Rapture
by northestwinds
Summary: Chris has teamed up with Leon to hunt down a new bioterrorist threat, only to find that the past isn't quite what it seems. With time running out, will he be able to resurrect the man that was once his partner from the monster he's become? Or will his ace remain a casualty of the war that brought them together? POST RE6- [Chris, Piers]. *I do not own Resident Evil*
1. Chapter 1

So I originally said I wasn't going to start posting this story until I finished writing it completely. However as a birthday gift to a dear penpal of mine, I have decided to post the first two chapters. I expect this story to be short (~8-10 Chapters) and have already finished writing four of them. If you came to this page looking for an update on my other fanfictions, check my profile for info. In fear that my writer's block has only lifted temporarily, I'm not going to agree to posting regularly until I have a complete rough draft to work on. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the story.

 **Chapter 1:**

Sweat dripped slowly down his back as he surveyed the room for enemies. Chris Redfield's uniform and gear were standard issue, no heavier today than it had ever been before, but the heat of the tropical climate made it feel like a greater burden. During the firefight earlier, his gun had actually slipped for a moment from the sweat wetting his hands. It has been a long time since a mission came to gun fights as close as the last one. The J'avo corpses littering the floor suddenly reminded him of a long past moment in a country far from here.

Suppressing the flashes of memory, he picked his way towards the door to the warehouse and motioned for his team to join him. The new Alpha team had been out in service for four months now, but none of the missions under their belt had come close to his last in China. Chris was beginning to wonder if HQ was going out of their way to give his team the easy cases so that he would have more time to recover. Surprising for an organization that had called him back to service only days after burying the last member of the previous Alpha team. He recognized that bioterrorism waited for no one really, but that didn't mean he didn't grieve privately when time allowed. The middle of a level red mission that was turning into anything but expected, was definitely not the time. Their mission today was finally at the caliber of danger he expected for the BSAA's best and they had been lucky so far.

"Bravo team to Alpha, we're in place for support," a voice spoke through his earpiece. Leon Kennedy was not pleased to be playing second fiddle in today's mission. He had previously been leading the hunt for renowned bioterrorist Maria Gomez. However today's mission required less of the stealth he was known for and more of the ass kicking that the BSAA was known for. An unusual alliance to say the least, but Leon seemed to be adjusting to leading the Bravo squad relatively well. Wiping his palms against his fatigues to dry them, Chris prepared to grab the door handle in front of him.

"Alpha here. Silent ten to infiltration," he replied. Readying his gun, Chris gave a nod to his second-in-command to grab the other door handle. According to their briefing, the room up ahead was a mere storage space. While one would think such a space of little importance, it appeared that their target was hidden somewhere within. Chris had to give the girl credit; she had set up them on a good witch hunt. Leon's original intel had had them storming a nearby pharmaceutical lab that was laden with enemies and nothing of value. They would have probably still been over there if his explosives specialist hadn't looked out a window and spotted Gomez hightailing it into this warehouse.

Throwing open the doors, Chris spotted enemies turning towards them from around the room. The crash of Bravo team entering from the side doors brought the room into chaos. Bullets whistled by and shouts from either side resounded. Chris dived behind the nearest crate as the men behind him rolled for cover. Returning fire, he took out two of the charging J'avo. As he slammed a fresh round of ammo into his gun, Chris spotted a red light sliding towards the crates where Bravo team had taken cover.

"Sniper," Chris warned through the headset just as the shock of an anti-material rifle pierced the air. A groan from behind the nearby crate and a shout of concern told him that the bullet had found its mark. Cursing the unknown foe, Chris took out some of the mesets coming in from the catwalks overhead.

"Target spotted at 11 o'clock," a voice in his ear piece chimed in. Risking a glance, Chris spotted Maria Gomez walking quickly along the catwalks with a briefcase in hand. Her black suit was partially covered by a white leather jacket and her hair was messily tied up as if she had been in a rush. Stopping by a crate at the edge of the catwalk, she stopped and spoke to someone hidden in the shadow. As if separating from the darkness itself, the sniper got down from its perch and swung the gun over its shoulder. He couldn't distinguish the person's features from afar, but they had to be of some interest if Maria was taking the time to collect them on her escape. Knifing the zombie jumping over the top of his crate, Chris began to take ground. He could see Maria's bright jacket moving quickly towards a door at the end of the walkway while her partner appeared to melt into the shadows.

"Push forward, she's getting away," Chris said into the earpiece as he made a quick charge for the stairs. His team moved forward pressing against the J'avo lines. Bravo team, seemingly recovered from whatever damage the sniper had dealt them, began to infiltrate the flank and scatter the enemy.

"Go ahead. We'll finish up here," Leon said as he hastily took down another J'avo, "we can't let her get away."

"Give me some cover," he told his team as he darted up the stairs. The vulnerable space provided nothing to hide behind, but he didn't fear the gunshots ringing about him. Catching Maria Gomez before she evaded their grasp again was more important. Running along the catwalk, Chris made it to the door the pair had walked through. Shooting the lock off, he swung the door open and quickly entered the hallway. As Chris rounded the corner he caught a glimpse of the pair as they yanked open another door.

"Stop," he shouted and the two figures froze for a moment, looking back at him. Chris's heart squeezed in shock as the sniper's profile came into view. The man beside Maria looked identical to the one he had lost six months ago in China. Cold hazel eyes met his warm ones without recognition. The similarities were striking. He was the same height and build as the late sniper, even having the same lean in his posture to compensate for the heavy gun slung across his back. His worn camo fatigues and dirty tee shirt were uncannily similar to what Chris remembered his Ace wearing on the days when he would work on his motorcycle under the blistering sun. Despite the knowledge that Alpha sniper Piers Nivans was dead, Chris took an unbidden step forward speechlessly grasping for words.

"Piers," Maria spoke softly breaking the silence. Her single word brought Chris's entire world into focus and sent the sniper into motion. He yanked the heavy metal door shut and twisted the lock into place.

"No," Chris shouted as he broke into a run towards the door.

"Take care of this quickly," Maria instructed with a nod towards the locked door before she began walking up the stairs towards the roof. There was no hesitation as Piers reached across his body to pull the small silver hook on his right shoulder from its latch. As it released, the skin between the two metal implants began to separate. Within seconds, his right arm was mutated to a form almost identical to that which Chris had seen him wielding against Helios. What had been green rot before was now a solid hardened navy shell and the limb moved without apparent discomfort.

"Piers," Chris yelled as he slammed his hand against the glass of the door. It rattled in its frame, but didn't give. He started to reach for a grenade to blow the metal door down as Piers pointed his claw towards him. There was a moment of hesitation as tendrils of blue electricity appeared rippling along his arm. Chris froze as he saw the electrical sparks through the door window.

"CHRIS," he heard shouted from behind him. It was far too late for his team to reach him. He shouldn't have gone so far ahead to begin with, but the opportunity to catch Maria had been worth the risk. No one could have predicted this though. In a moment of apparent indecision, Piers jerked his arm upward shooting the powerful blast at the ceiling above him. The cement rapidly began caving in and blocking the door with rubble. The last thing Chris could see was Piers starting down the stairs as he nimbly placed the hook back into place on his rapidly unshifting arm.

Firm hands yanked him back from the door in the nick of time as a large chunk of cement took his place. Stumbling over his own feet, Chris could feel someone pulling him down the hallway away from the collapsing ceiling. He twisted in their grasp and ran with them through the door back onto the catwalk with seconds to spare.

"We need to get to the street," Chris panted as he rapidly tried to catch his breath.

"Belay that order," Leon gasped. Hauling Chris Redfield around was not his forte. It was like moving a mountain. Didn't even matter that Leon was in the best shape of his life. "Chris, our mission is capturing Maria. I saw her heading up, not down."

Chris shook his head in disbelief and fingered the grenade tied to his belt. If he blew the rubble blocking the path now, there's a chance he could squeeze through and chase after Piers. However it seemed too risky with how unstable the ceiling was. He could bring down the rest of the building on their heads if he wasn't careful. Pushing off from the railing, he set a fast pace down the catwalk, but Leon caught up.

"I don't know who you think you saw out there, but that wasn't Piers. We buried him, remember? You have to see reason!" Grabbing Chris's arm, Leon wasn't surprised when the much larger man threw him off.

"No, we buried an empty casket for the body we never found. He's alive, Leon. Piers is here. He's obviously still infected, but he hesitated back there. He had the chance to wipe me from the face of this Earth and he didn't. We have to get him back," Chris rambled. He could see the confusion on the two team's faces from down the catwalk. Leon shook his head with a frown.

"Chris, you can't save the dead." Ignoring the implicit meaning to his words, Chris set off again with renewed purpose. Reaching up to his ear piece, he gave his team orders.

"Alpha leader to Alpha team, get to the roof stat. Leon, take care of them."

Chris followed the trail of J'avo corpses back to the room he had spotted the fire escape in earlier. Breaking the glass open with the butt of his gun, he took the stairs as fast as he could towards the street level below. The unexpected sound of blades whipping through the air made his heart panic. Jumping over the rail onto the ground below, Chris raced around the corner. Only a few meters away, a helicopter was taking off. He could see Maria and Piers standing inside of it. Pushing himself to run at full speed, Chris made a dash for the helicopter as it began to gain altitude. Jumping up to reach the rising skid, he was able to get the tips of his fingers around it. However any chance of gripping the cool metal plummeted as the sweat on his hands slicked the surface. The ground had never felt harder as Chris fell onto his back. He could hear shouts from above as Alpha and Bravo team finally reached the rooftop, but it was much too late.

"Bravo to HQ, we need air support," Leon shouted into his headset.

"Nearest air support is thirty minutes out."

"Fuck," Leon shouted as he threw his ear piece to the ground. Chris could hear the fragile piece of technology break from where he was. Realizing that they would have to bite the bullet and accept defeat, Chris put in the call.

"Queen of Hearts has escaped. Alpha Team and Bravo team now in route to rendezvous checkpoint for extraction."


	2. Chapter 2

Any sections that are italicized are scenes occurring in the past.

 **Chapter 2:**

"…and this selfish asshole abandons the mission to chase a ghost!" Leon huffed as he stamped around the Regional Director's office. Chris sat in a chair before the impressive desk, but kept an eye on the fuming agent. With the rate this debrief was going he was half expecting Leon to throw a punch at him. Months of planning and recon wasted on another failed attempt at capturing Maria Gomez. If Leon hadn't failed three months ago, at least two cities in Russia would still be standing. Who knows how many more would suffer now while they tried to track her down again? Chris raised his appraisal from the neatly stacked paperwork in front of him to look at the North American regional director. Jill Valentine was not happy with the mess the two of them had created with this mission.

"Jill, you have to believe me. The man that helped Gomez escape is Piers. I'm sure of it," Chris pleaded quietly. This wasn't his first time being in trouble for something he did on a mission. Jill had already given him enough speeches and reprimands that he had lost count, but today she was unusually quiet. Chris wondered if he had finally crossed a line that couldn't be forgiven. Yet he wouldn't change his actions today for anything. Knowing that Piers was alive had filled him with the most dangerous emotion of all: hope. Leon slammed his fist down on the cabinet beside him.

"You saw that oil rig explode yourself. There was no way he could have survived that. Why do you keep bringing up Piers?" Jill sighed and stood up from her desk. Turning her back on the pair, she walked over to her bookshelf and poured a healthy shot of whiskey. It was lucky for her that Leon had called on their way in. Usually looking up old reports from other divisions was difficult, but he had given her just enough time to find the old report on the China mission and read it before they had barged through her door. Jill put back the shot and poured another, wishing that the liquid was harder.

"36 hours."

"What," both men asked turning to face her. She had been silent since their arrival, their bickering clouding the air with its confusion and anger.

"The biohazard remediation team didn't arrive to begin clean up until 36 hours after you were picked up." Her words didn't seem to register to Leon, but Chris's face scrunched up in thoughtfulness. Seeing the gears running in the old bear's mind, Jill took her glass and sat down behind her desk again. Leon glanced between the two of them as his frustration grew. Nursing the liquid fire in her glass, Jill leaned over and took out the China report from the stack on her desk. She flipped it open to the image contained in the report and threw it down so both men could see it. The photo was of two empty escape pods floating nearly side by side.

"When the crew arrived, they found a second escape pod, but no sign of any occupant. Based on the structural damage, they believed that the pod might have been trapped temporarily beneath some of the explosion debris and surfaced after the remains settled. Since the pod was empty and not activated to send a distress signal, they passed it off as a coincidence."

"Fuck," Leon swore. Shaking his head at them, he walked over to get himself a glass. After the day he had, he figured he'd earned it. "Don't you think that kind of thing is important to mention?"

"I honestly didn't know. You can blame whoever did the paperwork over in the Asian Division for not bringing it to anyone's attention."

"He was alone," Chris whispered. Jill felt her heart squeeze at the lost expression on Chris's face. His eyes were watery, but he hadn't yet yielded to the tears he was fighting. White knuckles grasped the arms of the chair he sat in. "He survived that mess and no one was there for him."

Chris stood up and walked towards the door. Placing his hand upon the door knob, he paused. It was hard to force words from his closing throat, but he wanted to make sure the others knew where he stood.

"I'm going to bring him home… I suggest you both start looking for a way to help me make that happen. Otherwise, I'll do it on my own."

.-..-.-.-..-..-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-

 _Chris took a long draught from his mug of beer and let his eyes linger over each member of the Alpha squad. The loud music in the bar was barely tempered by the booth he sat in. Only a few steps away, people were pressed together dancing in time to the pounding music. This place wouldn't have been his first choice to celebrate Finn's birthday, but sadly this is what the explosives technician had asked for. He wanted the whole team to come out drinking and as the closest bar to base, this is where they had landed. The newly turned twenty one year old had gotten his wish and there was no doubt that every member of Alpha team was drunk off their asses tonight._

 _Most of the members of his squad were now up dancing with beautiful women. They had all started off together, clinking their large mugs of beer together in camaraderie, but it didn't take long for the group of attractive soldiers to be picked off by the single women prowling for company. Piers had been the last to leave him, even hesitating to accept the girl's offer until Chris insisted he go. Now he regretted that decision more than ever._

 _His mind was replaying the pouty lips and sparkling hazel eyes that had been previously focused on him. Chris should have set aside his reservations earlier when Piers had timidly asked him to dance and accepted. It wasn't like the sniper had asked at an inconvenient time. In fact it was painfully obvious in hindsight that Piers had patiently waited until the other Alphas were dispersed into the crowd and distracted before putting himself out there. However Chris had shut it down in a heartbeat and Piers had accepted his answer with a silent acknowledgement._

 _Somewhere in the sober part of his mind, he registered that Piers was flirting with the line that he had placed between them. It was hard for Chris to accept that he found a man attractive. As far as he was concerned he was as straight as an arrow, but the Alpha team sniper made him feel things that no one else had. Now that he was six beers wiser, Chris felt his confusion lift for a startling clarity. It didn't matter that Piers was a guy. The Ace was all that he wanted, a suitable partner both on the field and off of it._

 _The fact that he had denied Piers earlier was getting harder to handle as he watched the woman in the Ace's arms throw her head back in pleasure. Pier's long slender fingers sensually caressed their way up the curve of the girl's narrow waist and their bodies were wound tightly against each other, moving hungrily in time to the music. It was obvious that the girl was enjoying everything being done to her and the sniper rewarded her surrender with lingering kisses upon her bared neck. Yet for all of her efforts to ensnare his attention, the sniper's keen eyes were focused only on his captain. Chris felt his mouth dry and his pants grow tighter as he watched them. Piers might have been fondling the girl, but he made it clear that he was thinking of the man across the room._

 _Unable to look away from the erotic scene, Chris was indeed watching when the girl turned around and captured Piers' lips. After a moment of hesitation, the sniper began devouring her with more finesse than a drunk soldier should have. When Piers finally opened his eyes and met his once more, Chris felt himself snap out of whatever trance he had fallen in. The pain in his chest was unnerving, but easily recognizable for the jealousy that it was. He needed to get out of here. Before he did something he might regret when he was sober. Taking out his phone, Chris stared at the empty screen for a few seconds trying to calm his heart rate. There was no call from work, but it was the best excuse he had for bailing on the party. He could apologize to Finn later. Chris got out of there as fast as his rubbery legs would allow him, but he didn't make it more than ten steps from the entrance when he heard the voice he had been yearning for._

 _"Captain!" Chris froze. He could hear the determined steps of the sniper coming up behind him. For someone who rarely made a sound while walking at all, that was quite a feat. Perhaps it was the absurd amount of alcohol his underling had consumed trying to keep up with him. "Are we needed?"_

 _"Just forgot about some paperwork that's all," Chris lied quickly. His excuse was weak given the present company. It was a well-known fact amongst Alpha team and those above it that Chris Redfield avoided paperwork like the devil and that it was only by Piers stubborn badgering that their reports were turned in on time nowadays. Despite the misstep, he wasn't willing to turn around and face the truth._

 _"Well then, let's head back. It'll go a lot faster with both of us working on it," Piers calmly stated, calling his bluff. Chris could hear the gravel crunching beneath the boy's combat boots as he stepped off the sidewalk onto the road and his breath hitched in anticipation. Mentally cursing himself for being so aware of the man behind him, Chris tried to wave him off._

 _"No need. I can take care of it myself. Have a good night, Piers." Thrusting his hands into his pockets, Chris started walking in the direction of the base. It wouldn't be too far of a walk with the shape that he was in. Plenty of time for him to cool down from the heat of the bar and the lust of his loins. It was too dangerous for him to be around Piers in this state. He was teetering on the fine edge of his control. From behind him, he could feel the sniper stop and stare._

 _"You know I'm not going to give up on you, Captain." His words brought Chris to a standstill. If he had looked back he would have seen the wistful smirk on Piers' face. The sniper's hands were nervously fisted at his side, but he stood his ground. "I know it's a long shot, but you told me yourself that I'm the best sniper in the BSAA… and I know the target I got my eye on is worth more than the world itself."_

 _Before he could second guess himself, Chris reversed directions and closed the distance between them with long strides. He grabbed the much smaller man and kissed him with all that he had. A relived sigh escaped their joined lips as Piers melted into his embrace…_

Chris jolted upright from his couch as the harsh ringtone of a cell phone blared. Cursing its rude interruption to the fond memory turned dream, he shoved the blanket aside and began searching through the piles of papers and takeout containers on his coffee table. When had he accumulated such a mess? It was as if the phone call had brought him back to reality from the cascade of memories that had consumed him the past few days. He had fallen into such a focused state reviewing all of Bravo team's work on Maria Gomez that little else had phased him. Somewhere in these papers there had to be a pattern, some hint that could lead him to Piers. How he could have misplaced his phone when it was a phone call from HQ that he was waiting for all of this time?

The damn bugger stopped ringing, bringing a string of curses to Chris's lips. Running a hand through his hair in frustration, his eyes caught on the framed photographs on his bookshelf. The first two were of him and Claire from their younger years, but the third photograph was taken only a few weeks before the Edonia mission. It was in fact Chris's favorite because it was the only one he had with both Claire and Piers in it. Claire was relaxing back against his chest and he had his arm wrapped around Piers' shoulder. The three of them were smiling at the camera and the world's problems had been temporarily forgotten in their excitement to be together for the unexpected early holiday.

A square of light illuminated on the bookshelf beside the photograph and the annoying ringtone began again. Lunging for the lost phone, Chris suddenly recalled placing it there specifically to avoid losing it amongst his papers. So much good that had done him he muttered to himself as he answered the call. The voice coming through the speaker was winded, but easily recognizable as Leon by the tinge of sarcasm in it.

"I'm sending you a location via text. Get your ass down here before we're forced to put your puppy out of commission."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

Chris Redfield hated small spaces. His bulging muscles and wide built frame usually meant that a skinnier member of the team was sent up into the air ducts in his stead, but not right now. Today he was the one crawling in the dusty narrow maze across the active battlefield below, trying to stay as quiet as humanly possible. If he were a lesser man, Chris would have asked Leon to climb through the tiny air duct on his behalf, but he couldn't bear the thought of leaving such an important task to a near stranger. He had to do this.

Of all the soldiers present, Chris was the least prepared for all of this. He left his house like a madman and had showed up to this gun fight with nothing but the comfy clothes on his back and the shoes on his feet. Leon had taken one look at him and spent the next five minutes reprimanding him for showing up unarmed and not suitably attired for battle. The fact that Chris didn't live on base anymore and wouldn't have taken the time to stop there for weapons under the time duress didn't matter now. Muttering about how the older man was going to get himself killed, Leon had forked over a knife and a pistol for his use.

As they had walked down the cleared levels of the lab facility, Leon reviewed what he knew so far. Echo team had been on a recon mission to explore this potential Neo-Umbrella location when they found security footage of Maria Gomez in the lower levels. Taking initiative, the Echo team captain called Bravo team for backup and began pursuit. Despite their best efforts to stay under the radar as they progressed, Echo team accidentally set off a trip wire and sent all of the residents of the facility into motion. By the time Bravo team had arrived, Echo team had forcibly secured the upper levels with their minimal weaponry and had pinned the remaining employees in the floors below ground. As far as they knew, they were blocking the only escape out.

Arriving into what appeared to be a small office, Chris could hear the distinctive sound of gunfire nearby. Leon whistled short and loud signaling his arrival into the space. Running around the corner into the room, a man in a BSAA uniform approached them.

"Tyler Steele, at your service," the Echo team captain saluted. Chris returned the salute and noted the haggard expression on the man's dirty face. They hadn't been expecting the fight they had gotten into today, but Echo team had made the right call to pursue the opportunity.

"At ease soldier. Tell me the situation," Chris ordered.

"We lost visual on Gomez, but she can't be far. Our maps show that there is no other exit and there's only one more floor below us. We are going to push forward and take out the remaining defenses on this floor so we can get down to Gomez."

"They would have already done so if your ghost wasn't making a nuisance of himself," Leon chided as he reloaded his pistol, "I suggest if you don't want us putting a bullet through his head that you find a solution quickly."

"Where is he at right now?" Tyler pulled up a floorplan of the room down the hallway from them. Inside of it, there were yellow dots marking their comrades and red marks of enemy locations. Pointing to a red dot in the back of the room, Chris swore quietly. There was little chance of him being able to run to the sniper's location before he got taken out. The men around him would be shooting to kill and they weren't going to disregard someone shooting at them, even if he gave them orders to spare him.

"If we had a tranq gun we could shoot him from here," Leon said as he pointed out a nearby flipped table, "but you showed up with nothing."

"You didn't exactly give me much to go on," Chris muttered as he moved the map in different directions trying to find a weakness. "I'll have to take him out the old fashioned way. A solid hit to the head should put him out long enough for me to take him out of commission. Got any rope I could borrow?"

As the Echo squad leader pulled a spool of rope from his pack, Leon looked at them incredulously.

"And how exactly are you going to get close enough to knock him out before he goes all J'avo and electrocutes your ass?"

"Simple. No one expects an attack from above," Chris said as he pointed towards the air duct opening practically on top of where the sniper sat. Tyler and Leon looked at each other with skepticism. The bear Chris Redfield fitting in an air vent? Now that was something they had to see.

Ignoring the choral of giggles from two fully grown men, Chris had compacted himself into the tiny duct and left them behind as fast as he could. Within minutes the teams began making their push and the battle erupted in full force. Reaching his destination, Chris peeked out at the sniper below. Piers was laid out behind a control panel of sorts. He didn't know what the panel controlled, but Chris had the feeling it was nothing good. The hard part was going to be keeping him from releasing his arm mutation or using the panel in front of him. Chris slowly removed the cover off of the vent opening and looked down. It was a short jump, but the opening was just small enough that if Chris got stuck when attempting to get down he would give his position away and loose the advantage.

There was a moment in the air when Piers knew what was about to happen. The jingle of the knife strapped to Chris's belt hitting the edge of the vent opening gave just enough of a warning for Piers to look up and roll out of the way. Without losing his stride, Chris kicked the gun out of Piers' hands and threw his body on top of him. Piers grappled with the much larger man for several seconds and struggled to get his arms free from his opponent's iron clasp. When Chris came out of the struggle on top, Piers made a desperate reach for the knife tied onto Chris's belt. His nimble fingers were able to release the blade, but Chris gave him a solid uppercut to the jaw ending the fight. Piers was knocked out cold. Chris couldn't help but chuckle as he took out rope and began tying the Sniper up.

"What are you laughing about, Redfield," Leon called out as he and the rest of Bravo team reached them. Echo team hurried past them and took up point on the door behind the pair.

"He tried to use the trick I taught him against me," Chris said as he sadly smiled down at the man beneath him. Piers might not know it, but the memories were still there hidden. Chris just had to find a way to trigger them. Once the Ace was solidly tied up, Chris wordlessly tossed him over his shoulder and began walking towards where they had come from.

"Where are you going," Leon asked. He quirked an eyebrow at the sight of Piers dangling from Chris's shoulder like a damsel in distress, but held his tongue from commenting. Without looking back, Chris gave him a brief wave and yelled back.

"We'll be back in that office waiting for you. Shouldn't take that long to arrest Maria will it?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Piers could feel his jaw aching as he returned from the blackness that had consumed him. His eyes fluttered opened and he spotted the man whom he had been fighting with leaning against the wall in front of him. Piers jerked against the tight bonds restricting his movements and realized he wasn't going to be going anywhere anytime soon. Looking around the room, Piers felt the smallest bit of relief that they were still at the facility and not in a BSAA interrogation room. There was a chance that his mistress would return for him here, he simply needed to wait for her. His eyes returned to the human in front of him. He had seen this man before, back in the warehouse several days ago. Something about him had given Piers pause then, almost like an itch in the back of his mind that he was forgetting something. His decision to spare the man had nearly cost Maria and his escape before and now it appeared to have come back to bite him yet again.

Today the soldier was not in his military fatigues, but in a pair of sweats and a tank. His messy brown hair and five o'clock shadow made it appear as if he had rolled out of bed moments before. He had a hand raised to the earpiece in his right ear as he listened intently to whatever message was coming through. Whatever the news was, it brought a frown to his face.

"Understood, over and out," he replied. The man let his arm drop to his side and his brown eyes met Piers' hazel. There appeared to be much he wanted to say, but instead he grabbed a nearby chair with a sigh and put it down in front of Piers. Flopping down gracelessly, he rested his elbows on his knees and looked intently at him.

"Do you remember me?" Piers was caught off guard by the earnestness of his expression. He almost felt like he should remember this stranger, but no memories came to mind. His silence seemed to disappoint him and Piers was surprised to feel a tinge of regret at that. "Where is Maria Gomez?"

Piers kept his expression neutral and remained silent. He had no reason to answer this man's questions. He had a general idea of what Maria might be up to, but he sure as hell wasn't going to forsake her to this stranger. Piers could see the man in front of him getting frustrated the longer he kept silent.

"Answer me soldier," he shouted, "Where is Maria Gomez hiding?"

Piers felt his eyes widen as he experienced a flashback of sorts. The man in front of him was shouting at him to get in line. He could feel the anger he felt in the memory washing away to reluctant acceptance. As he returned to the present moment, Piers felt his brow knit in confusion. Maria had warned him that the virus might give him strange delusions. Was the virus evolving again after being stable for so long? Shaking it off, Piers focused on the reality at hand.

The blare of a siren interrupted whatever the man was about to say. Reaching up to his ear piece, he stepped away from Piers and asked for a report. The door to the hallway was thrown open. Before he had time to react, a dart shot into his thick neck. Maria lowered the tranq gun from her position in the doorway, taking in her handiwork. As the man's body slumped to the floor, he reached for the earpiece wordlessly. Maria hurried past him and untied Piers.

"I trust you told him nothing," she calmly inquired. Piers rubbed some life back into his hands before standing up.

"Of course not." Maria walked out of the room and Piers began to follow after her. As he passed by the man crumpled on the floor, he brought himself to a standstill. "Maria, I think we should take this one with us. He would make an excellent soldier to our cause with the proper virus."

Maria popped her head back in with a look of confusion. Questioning the sanity of her prized pet, she walked over and took a closer look at the large man on the floor.

"Well I'll be damned. It's Captain Chris Redfield," Maria laughed. Squeezing his cheeks together, she left bright red scratches in her wake. Piers flinched at her casual cruelness. "While it's a great opportunity, we really don't have the time to drag him out of here."

"I could carry his weight. It'll be no trouble," Piers stated calmly. He didn't know how much the big bear of a man weighed, but somehow he didn't doubt that he could manage the task.

Maria's gaze turned to Piers. Her stare seemed to pierce right through him, and calculate the risks of what he was proposing. Though she frowned at him, Maria nodded her consent and started walking away. "Do it then. I'll enjoy watching him become what he's always fought against."


	4. Chapter 4

I'm not gonna lie. This short story has been incredibly more difficult to write than I anticipated. It's hard to build the depth of relationships/character development that I want when I'm trying to keep the story short. I already recognize that the original eight chapter layout I had planned for isn't going to work and that it will have to be expanded to a minimum of twelve to encompass all of the story arc. Despite these difficulties, I'm happy to say that I've written the next four chapters minus two transition scenes.

Here's to hoping for the lightening strike of inspiration to help with writing those transitions. (insert rain dance here). Next post will be on Friday.

 **Chapter 4**

Piers tossed and turned restlessly before finally giving up hope of sleeping. The man on his mind was currently locked up in the holding cell six floors below. He found himself feeling the name over in his mouth. Christopher Redfield. Captain Chris Redfield. Captain felt more natural a name to call him. It was no wonder he was a captain with the way that he was built. For a soldier who had surely seen and performed countless interrogations, why had he asked Piers if he remembered him? Of all the important questions he could have asked, why that? The question kept eating at his mind, giving him little leeway for other thoughts.

When Piers and Maria had made it back to their headquarters, she had had their security personnel take Chris down to the prison and assigned their best to his guard duty. Piers was surprisingly not on that list. Though she hadn't explicitly said he couldn't go near him, the looks she gave him while giving the orders were loud enough. Chris Redfield, a man he had suggested be purposefully infected for their cause, was off limits. Yet Piers found himself getting dressed at this ungodly hour of daylight with the intention of walking the six flights of stairs down to the prison to do just that. He wanted just a few moments with the BSAA captain, to get an answer for the question that plagued him.

Entering into the prison and getting rid of the guard was almost too easy for Piers. The night guard was Evan Baxter, a fairly useful soldier, but not a great guard. It was common knowledge that Evan's high energy left him bored with mundane tasks like babysitting a prisoner in their secure headquarters. The moment that Piers spotted him as the guard on duty, he knew it would be easy to bait him for a few moments of privacy. Excusing his arrival as a simple checkup, he made small talk until he could make the offer of a short break from work natural. As he had expected, Evan was more than happy to accept the short breakfast break that Piers offered him. Within ten minutes of entering the supposedly secure prison, Piers found himself alone with Chris Redfield.

The prisoner in question was lying on a cot that was in no shape or size large enough for someone of his build. When Piers took the previous guard's abandoned seat a few steps away from the cell, Chris had turned to watch him with interest. He abandoned his lax pose on the bed to sit on the floor against the bars closest to him. Piers didn't waste any time in getting to the point.

"You asked if I knew you. Why?" Chris didn't bother to hide his smirk at Piers' bluntness.

"I'll ask you again. Do you know who I am," Chris drawled.

"You are Captain Chris Redfield, leader of the BSAA's Alpha team," Piers stated mechanically. With a name in hand, it had taken him only a few minutes on a computer to locate information on the illustrious captain. As one of the founders of the BSAA, the website had openly listed a profile with some basic history, but that didn't help his curiosity. It lacked any details as to how the captain might know him. That would not be unearthed so easily.

"Well Piers it's nice you finally remember my name." Piers gave him a brief nod and there was a moment of silence as both men lingered in their thoughts. "Does your arm still hurt you?"

Piers felt himself gape like a fish before quickly recovering from the shock. He never told anyone how shifting his arm to its other form hurt. Some of his first memories were of trying to shift his claw back into fingers and how the pain seemed to radiate from the core of his arm all the way up into his neck. Rather than complain, Piers had simply used his mutation less and hid the weakness. Apparently not well enough if this stranger was able to pick up on it.

"Not like it used to," Piers admitted carefully. He was caught off guard by the honest smile that Chris gave him.

"I'm happy to hear that. You seem to have a much better control of it now than before." Confusion clouded Piers' expression. This was not going how he had expected.

"Happy? Why would that make you happy? We are enemies. You kill infected individuals and I fight for their freedom."

"Is that the bullshit she's been feeding you," Chris exclaimed as he got to his feet. He grabbed the bars and squeezed them. "The infected we take down are a danger to society. They often kill countless civilians before we can get there to stop them."

"What about the ones who aren't? Those who are simply sick," Piers retorted. He got up from his chair and approached the bars of Chris's cell.

"Anything infected are dangerous weapons. We don't have the luxury of postponing a battle to wait for a cure."

"So you think I'm a mindless tool," Piers hissed as his temper reared its ugly head. He glared at Chris and let his emotions roll over his features. "Well news flash, not all of us are monsters."

"I'm not saying that at all. Listen Piers, I've been fighting bioterrorism a long time and I've yet to encounter someone infected that doesn't turn for the worse." Piers shook his head and returned to his seat. "The virus you are infected with is one of the enhanced types. That's why even now a part of me hopes that you'll fight this and come back to yourself before it's too late."

"I am myself."

"In a way, yes. That quick temper and blunt curiosity are spot on, but you lack the thing that used to drive you."

"And what would that be?"

"Love." Piers cocked his head to the side at the captain's strange response and scoffed. Chris gave him a pitiful smile and leaned back against the bars as if the fight had gone out of him. "You used to love your family more than anything else and you don't even remember them now, do you? Would you like to hear how your sister wept at your funeral? Or how your mother got down on her knees in the mud to kiss your empty casket?"

"STOP," Piers shouted as he rocketed from his chair once more. He had no memories of having a family and yet there was no question that he felt the Captain hitting an unseen nerve. He had never questioned the history that Maria had told him when he'd first awakened. Even as he refuted the prisoner's words, somehow they felt awfully correct. Shaking it off as his imagination running away with itself, Piers found himself at only an arm's length away from the bars of the cell. The BSAA captain turned to face him, and there was a moment of silence as they looked at each other.

Moving slowly so as not to startle him, Chris put his hand through the bars and reached out. Piers didn't trust that large hand nor the man behind it, but curiosity kept him from taking the step back to keep out of reach. Warm rough fingers gently touched the left side of his face.

"What are you doing," Piers whispered roughly.

"Assuring myself that you aren't some hallucination," Chris replied.

"Hey Nivans, thanks for watching him while I grabbed a bite," a voice called in from the hallway. Jolting away from Chris's hand, Piers shot him an assessing look before moving quickly towards the doorway.

"Anytime. I know how much of a hard ass the lead guard can be," Piers replied hesitantly. Evan turned the corner and gave him a wide smile before moving towards the empty chair. Glancing back over his shoulder, Piers took one last look at the captain before turning to escape. Despite knowing that there were walls of cement and steel between them, he could almost feel those piercing eyes following his every movement. Stepping into the safety of the main corridor, Piers recognized that going down there had been a poor choice to begin with. Though he was loathe to admit it, his trip to the prison had left him more troubled than ever before.

-.-.-..-…-.-

Piers let a drop of blood fall onto the test strip before covering the shallow finger wound with a wad of gauze. Keeping the meter steady, he waited for the virus count to process. Normally Piers would only check his virus count once a week, but he had been filled with unease since his escapade to the prison this morning. He was lucky that no one else was working in the lab today. It was obvious that his head was in the clouds and his current work ethic reflected it. A beep announcing that the meter was finished interrupted his wandering thoughts. Piers was happy to see that the virus count was at 24.2%, the same that it was when he had emerged from his healing pod several months ago. Yet the implications of that number left him with more questions than answers. If that delusion yesterday was somehow a memory, then in what capacity had he known Captain Redfield?

The lab doors flew open and Piers quickly put the meter behind him on the counter. Maria smiled widely at him as she swept into the room. Returning her smile with a smirk, he leaned back against the counter and let her come to him.

"How goes the research today? I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come visit you."

"Not as fast as when you're around, that's for sure," Piers replied as she joined him at the lab bench. Spotting the meter behind him, her thin eyebrows puckered in concern. He noticed her reaction and immediately tried to wave her off. "Just wanted to check it. You never know when the virus might advance."

"Have you experienced any delusions or skin splits? You seem out of sorts," Maria commented. Her voice was laced with worry and she put out a hand to trace his infected arm. As if recognizing her as one of its own, a small tingle of bioelectricity rippled down his arm to shock her fingers.

"No," Piers lied. Pulling away from her, he threw away the test strip and began cleaning up the meter. "Just got a lot on my mind, that's all."

"Is it Redfield? The one we brought back yesterday?" Piers opened his mouth to deny it, but shut it on second thought. Maria wasn't terribly perceptive, but he had no doubt that she would pick up on any obvious lies if he weren't careful. Deciding to go on the offensive, he turned the tables on her.

"Before you arrived yesterday, he asked me if I remembered him. It seemed an odd question coming from someone I've never met before." For a woman that usually prattled on at every opportunity, Maria was oddly silent. Piers set the meter back in its spot in the cabinet and neatened up the workspace, but kept his attention completely on her. A frown tugged at her pink lips and she avoided looking up at him. If her body language hadn't given her away, her hesitation would have. "I've met him before, haven't I? You never mentioned that I spent time with a member of the BSAA."

"You didn't just spend time with them, you were one of them," Maria admitted. Piers couldn't hide the shock and horror from his face. He was part of the killing, the destruction that they caused? She looked at him with a regretful expression and gave a long sigh before continuing. "When I decided to move our operations to China, you offered to stay behind and infiltrate the North American BSAA branch. You thought that to protect our plans for the future, we needed a mole on the inside of the organization that always destroyed our work. The warnings you sent saved me from capture at Marhawa University and countless times thereafter."

Piers watched as Maria shifted uncomfortably under the weight of his stare. She never talked this much about their past, not since the day he woke up from his healing pod. Flipping her pony tail over her shoulder, she continued.

"Six months ago, I received a distress call from you shortly after our headquarters were attacked. Using what little resources I had left, I traced the signal and found you in a collapsing oil rig deep beneath the sea. You had finally administered the virus that I had given you, and as a result the BSAA left you down there to die. I saved you from the wreckage and we barely escaped from the explosion in the last escape pod. You collapsed into a cocoon to heal while we were rising to the surface. Imagine my surprise when you finally broke free a few days later with no memory." Maria stepped closer to Piers and put her small hands on his chest. Gently scratching her nails suggestively, she had almost a thoughtful expression. "No memory of me, no memory of our work…as fresh as you were when God first created you."

Piers captured her wandering hands and clasped them carefully in his own. Lowering their joined hands slowly, he saw her shrug. "Forget about the past, Piers. Take joy in the bright future we have ahead of us. In just a few short days, there will be more people like us out there in the world and the governments will have to see reason. We aren't a plague to be feared; we are the future of humanity."

Maria's cellphone interrupted her ramblings. Without hesitation she pulled her hands from his and fished the device from her coat pocket. Excusing herself with a small wave, she answered the call and left Piers standing alone in the lab again. Holding his hands out before him, he looked at his empty palms thoughtfully. Maria's words had given him peace and yet a small voice in the depths of his mind questioned it all.


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you all for the feedback and support.

 **Chapter 5:**

Piers set his anti-material rifle on the table as the target slid forward. The results of his shooting practice would seem perfect to an average marksman, but for the perfectionistic sniper it was subpar at best. It wasn't like the range was a challenge. There was no running while shooting or dodging of enemy bullets here. Tearing off the paper with a sigh, he crumbled it up into a ball and tossed it into the nearby trash basket. It was already overflowing with similar tattered sheets and the range had yet to formally open for the day. He had given up on trying to sleep for an early morning at the range. Just as he was about to tack up a fresh sheet of paper on the target, the device in his pocket chirped with a message.

Pulling out his phone and reading it quickly, Piers frowned at Evan's request for break coverage. He had had no intention of going back down to the prison any time soon, but somehow he found it hard to reject the offer. Noting the time of morning, he knew if he was going to accept the opportunity he would have to go now. There would be too many people around to notice his absence if he delayed. Was it worth the risk? Sliding his phone back into his pocket unanswered, he considered his options.

-..-.-.-.-.-

After watching Evan clear the hallway, Piers let out the breath he had been unknowingly holding. He was alone with Captain Redfield again. Balancing the cleaning kit and gun with one hand, Piers grabbed the chair and moved it directly in front of the holding cell. As he sat down and spread out the kit next to him, he could feel the prisoner's eyes taking in his every movement. Refusing to look up at him, Piers focused on methodically taking his gun apart for cleaning.

"So here we are again," Piers commented. Chris smiled at him, obviously pleased by his return. Getting up from his seat in the corner of the cell, he sat down by the bars closest to Piers and observed. Piers' motions were smooth and efficient, nearly natural from the number of repetitions.

"I always did love watching you clean your gun," Chris quietly commented. Piers opened his mouth to ask how the Captain knew that this was his personal gun, but decided better of it. If they had worked together before, then his preference for the beastly gun would be well known.

"You implied yesterday that we were close before. In all honesty, I have no memory of you before the warehouse the other day." Piers' words were harsher than he had intended them, but he didn't bother apologizing. If Chris truly did know him, he would already know that the Ace was not good at minding his tongue. "Yet seeing you has made me hesitate on two occasions…tell me about our history together."

Chris let the statement hang in the air for the confession that it was. Piers didn't look up at him, focusing instead on how his hands nimbly worked the brush into the inner workings of the gun. If he had, he would have noticed Chris's expression moving from the gun in his hands to his lips.

"Piers Nivans. West Point graduate. A member of the United States Army Special Forces until BSAA recruitment three years ago. Assigned to Alpha Team as First Lieutenant. Killed in action six months ago in China," Chris recited off, "But anyone with access to your background file would know that."

"Then why don't you tell me the stories I can't find in databases and HR paperwork," Piers suggested as he set aside a cleaned piece of the anti-material rifle. Picking up the next piece in his routine, he examined it carefully. Chris was silent for a few minutes, putting together his thoughts and choosing one from among his favorite memories of the sniper in which to share. Piers sneaked a peak at the man in front of him from beneath his lashes. With a distant smile, Chris began…

.-.-..-.-..-.-

 _"Watch your feet! A stumble here could put you out of commission," Chris exclaimed as he started on the narrow path before him. On either side of the foot wide trail the mountain dropped off into steep cliffs that had claimed many a careless hiker before them. It was lucky for them that it was a beautiful fall day and the breeze that had made their long steep hike comfortable was no fiercer on this vulnerable neck of the trail. Chris could see for miles in either direction and were the path not so treacherous he probably would have had his team stop to appreciate the view. Instead he pushed them to keep hiking, knowing their spot to camp for the night was just ahead._

 _Alpha Team let out a collective sigh as they approached the grove of trees that designated their campsite. Beneath the light breeze and the song of birds settling in for the evening, the sound of water gurgling could be heard. Chris smiled as he broke the tree line and examined the peaceful meadow. As he had hoped, they were the only ones up here. A well-used fire pit was surrounded by disturbed dirt of where previous campers had set up camp, but his real interest was the collection of rocks on the far side of the grassy space. A large spring bubbled forth from the mountain's core and gathered in a deep pool before spilling over into a waterfall. As he had discovered on his last trip up here, the swim and view from the water had made the trek more than memorable._

 _"Welcome to Hawkeye, gentlemen. Let's set up camp and relax," he said over the murmuring excited voices behind him. Tossing his bag down beside the fire pit, Chris looked back to survey his team. All of them were sweating and dirty from the day long hike up here, but had smiles on their faces. Ben quickly offered to set up the tents and pulled Finn into helping him before he had the chance to join Carl and Andy in their search for firewood. Before he knew it, his team was dispersed and he was left with Piers._

 _"Orders Captain," Piers asked as he closed the distance between them. Chris shook his head and gave his second a smirk._

 _"We are on a retreat Piers, there's no need to call me so formally. Especially since you'll be sleeping with me tonight." As he had expected, the Ace brushed off his statement and turned away to watch the tent raising commotion. Despite the angle, Chris could easily see the blush across the young man's cheeks. Perhaps he should have pulled rank and asked for a redraw for tent mates this morning. It would have looked terrible to the rest of the team, but it would have saved him from an awkward night with Piers. The boy was so stiff and formal around him that it made Chris self-conscious at times. If the weather kept holding he could simply sleep out under the stars and leave the sniper to the tent. "The boys should be back any minute with firewood. Give me a hand with dinner, won't ya?"_

 _It didn't seem to matter what the team did that evening, Piers didn't actively participate unless specifically called upon to do so. Chris didn't understand why the sniper was being so distant. He had seen the young man visiting with some of his old West Point classmates before and he hadn't appeared to be much of a loner then. As the rest of the Alpha team splashed about in the water, Chris spotted the Ace sitting on a nearby rock overlooking the falls. The perch was strategic, close enough that he could keep an eye on all of them, but far enough away to avoid getting dragged into anything. Swimming over, Chris climbed onto the rock and sat down beside him._

 _"It's breathtaking," Piers commented as his eyes looked out over the horizon. The night sky was bright with the full moon and more stars than could be counted. Chris spared it a glance before purposefully looking back at the rest of the team._

 _"It is…but you are missing the better view behind you." Piers quirked his head to the side and looked at his captain questioningly. Following the older man's gaze, he considered the group of battle hardened men playing like carefree boys._

 _"May I ask you a question, Captain?"_

 _"Of course," Chris replied, his eyes not leaving the splash fight in progress. The childish part of him wanted to abandon this safe post to join in the mayhem. However getting Piers to really open up and bond with the team was more important._

 _"How do you do it," Piers asked. He swallowed carefully as Chris finally turned his gaze upon him. Warm hazel eyes seemed to look right through him into his soul. "How do you let yourself become friends with them when you know the kind of decisions we will have to make in the field?"_

 _Chris considered the man in front of him carefully, the pieces clicking into place. Piers' prior captain had reported that the man did his job well, but didn't seem particularly close with his teammates. In fact Chris doubted he had even bothered to tell any of them goodbye by how quickly he had packed his duffel bag and followed Chris out of there. Yet there was now something vulnerable in the young man's eyes as if he were questioning the logic of his choices. Chris could see now that he was yearning to join the others, but feared the loss that was likely to come._

 _"We all have to die someday Piers. I rather have spent my time enjoying the people around me and fighting the good fight than guarding myself against pain." Placing one of his large hands on Piers' shoulder, he gave him a sad smile. "What life is worth fighting for otherwise?"_

 _"You ladies gonna join us or what," Ben yelled from middle of the dying splash fight. Heads turned to stare at the two men sitting atop the rock, the private moment broken. Chris gave Piers' shoulder a squeeze before standing up to dive into the water. He could hear the splash of water behind him as Piers followed suit. Joining the circle, Chris looked at each member of Alpha and listened in on the conversation at hand._

 _"Well boys, I have a matter that needs to be settled," Andy said as he waded into the center of the circle and turned to smirk at each of them. "I overheard Finn here shit talkin' this mornin' that he could take me on."_

 _"I did not," Finn exclaimed with a terrified expression. Chris doubted that their rookie would have said such a thing, but he had a feeling he knew where this was going. What he was not expecting was Piers to jump into the mix._

 _"I believe what you mean to say is that you heard me talking about how trashy your aim was the other day at the range. And you call yourself a marksman," he scoffed as he took a few steps forward into the circle. Shooting a wink at Finn, Piers enjoyed the shocked expression on Andy's face. Surprise quickly wore off into a mischievous grin as the operative rose to the challenge._

 _"Not everyone is a perfectionist of your standard, Nivans. Take that big gun away from you, and what do we have left?"_

 _"A West Point engineer that knows how to give out an ass kicking." A whistle came from one of the other Alphas. Piers smirked at Andy, waiting to see if the hot head was going to make a move. He wasn't surprised when the man's field partner countered instead._

 _"How about we have ourselves a little game to settle the matter," Carl chimed in. Stepping up next to Andy, he clearly wanted to join in on the challenge, "How about a round of chicken?"_

 _"I'm in. You want to back that mouth up with some action, pretty boy," Andy taunted. Piers' smirk only grew larger as he put his hands on his narrow waist._

 _"You're going down. Captain, you got my back?" Chris smiled broadly as he stretched his large muscular arms upward. Walking forward through the water to stand beside Piers, he watched the disbelief from the others melt into excitement. The Alpha team captain was usually sidelined as a ref in case things got too rough, but not tonight. Smirking at their opponents, Chris crossed his arms in front of him and answered his lieutenant with the truth._

 _"Always."_

 _-.-.-..-.-.-_

Piers laughed as Chris continued his yarn about how they had destroyed the other Alphas in various water games. The gun lay reassembled in his lap and the cleaning kit was packed away, all of it finished and forgotten as he had been pulled into the story.

"After that trip, you were closer to everyone. We were a great team…" Chris trailed off as his eyes looked unseeingly at the hallway wall. His genuine smile slowly dropped and the energy he had in retelling the memory faded as he retreated into himself. Piers swore he could almost see tendrils of the past latching onto the man and start pulling him away.

"What happened to them?" Chris blinked wide eyed as if realizing that he was still here. Piers' curiosity had him sitting on the edge of the seat. The man who was sitting across from him with such energy only minutes before now appeared to be a shell.

"They're all dead. Carla Radames…she…God Finn…" Piers could see the fear and pain in Chris's eyes as he tried to find words. It was almost as if the trauma of his past was drowning him. Setting aside his gun, Piers walked up to the bars and put a hand through to squeeze Chris's shoulder. Chris dropped his head and took a few deep breaths as he tried to compose himself. "You were right all along. I was too close. When Carla infected them and they tried to kill us, I didn't fight back."

Chris raised his head so he could look at Piers. There was something much older about him now, a battering of soul that only came from life's true hardships. "You dragged me out of there. And when I ran away to hide my sorrows in liquor like a coward, you brought me back. 'You can't hide from your past,' you told me, 'No matter where you go or what you do.'"

Piers removed his hand from him as if the older man had hit him. Standing up and turning his back on the sniper, Chris slowly went to sit down on the cot.

"Forgive me, Piers. I need some time with my thoughts." Piers could hear the distress from his tone. If he could have, Piers would have grabbed his gun and left that instant, but Evan still wasn't back to take over guard duty. Trying to give him some privacy, Piers pulled the chair back to its original spot away from the cell and sat down. In the quiet he could hear the ticking of a clock in the distance and a dripping of a pipe somewhere close by. Hardly enough sound to cover the harsh breathing of grief coming from the cell.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Piers jerked against the invisible bonds of unconsciousness and wrestled with the dreams tormenting him. The nightmares were more vivid and lifelike than he had ever experienced before. Confusion melted with anger, chaos twisted with order…what was memory and what was a figment of imagination was undiscernible in the sleeping mind.

-..-.-.

 _Water laps at his boots as he runs along the metal grated hallway. Heavy gasps for air come from the exhausted man beside him as they continue to try and escape the monster. Using the slick of the water to their advantage, they slid beneath a sealing doorway. Piers immediately got to his feet and looked for his partner. Behind Chris, a silvery appendage braced the door and yanked it open, revealing the extensive form of HAOS. Realizing that his Captain was in the line of fire, Piers did only what came naturally: he pushed him out of the way. The massive arm that swooped in barely missed the older man, but latched onto Piers' off balanced form with ease._

 _All of Piers' weight hung from his right arm where the monster held him aloft. The pain was excruciating. The slow tearing of flesh from socket and crushing of bone as HAOS's grip tightened made him scream out for his Captain. Gunshots rattled the tendril holding him and the monster threw him away. Slamming into the broken wall, his body slid down to land in the debris. A jagged pipe stabbed through his right shoulder as he hit the bottom. He couldn't stop the scream of agony that escaped his lips. Blood gushed from the wound and before Piers could react, a huge chunk of metal landed atop of it crushing the mangled extremity further._

 _His vision was hazy and spotty as he tried to focus on the battle at hand. In the distance, Piers heard Chris call out his name. He could feel his life force ebbing away, blood seeping into the water and scrap about him. Piers was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop HAOS. Anger and hatred filled him as he saw the monster grab Chris. "Not him," he would have screamed if he had had any voice left. His mind repeated those two words as the rest of the world sunk into the fog, leaving him a narrow tunnel of vision. It was in this moment that he spotted the red syringe on the floor in front of him and knew what he had to do. He was going to die, but by hell or high water he was going to get his Captain out of here. The world needed Chris Redfield._

 _Piers used the dredges of his failing strength to throw his weight forward towards the syringe. What remained of his right arm stayed behind in the wreckage and he fell forward as something less than what he was before. Crawling with one hand, his field of vision began to shrink further into threatening blackness. Stubbornly he pushed on, ignoring the anguish of losing his arm and focusing instead on the chance to save Chris. Piers grasped the syringe and without hesitation, injected the virus into what remained of his right shoulder. Searing pain consumed the wound, burning up his neck and down his chest wall. Closing his eyes for just a moment, Piers grit his teeth against the torture at hand._

 _Green canvas. There was green canvas in front of him. Piers erupted from the all-consuming pain to find himself on his back facing a wall of green canvas. The pain that had been eating him alive before was gone, instead replaced by a tightness across the front of his chest. He was covered in sweat and his heart was racing as if he was still in the middle of the fight. A loud snore startled Piers and he jerked in surprise, twisting about to find its source. Chris lay sprawled out beside him in a half open sleeping bag, his right hand extended into the space between them. Following the curvature of the canvas material and the little light provided by the glow sticks hanging above them, Piers concluded that they appeared to be in a tent._

 _Releasing his held breath, Piers settled back against his pillow and sleeping bag. Outside he could hear the quiet song of wilderness and snores from what were probably the other members of Alpha team. Staring at the canvas, he noted the body-wide tension keeping him from properly relaxing. Why was he feeling like this in the middle of the night?_

 _Piers' attention was brought down to his left hand. Chris's hand had shifted to move against his, providing a warm pressure that sent his heart stampeding. It was hard to breathe in the tiny tent with only the two of them in it. It took a few moments and several purposefully long breaths for Piers to settle his rattled thoughts. Glancing back at his captain to make sure he was still asleep, Piers was reassured of his obliviousness. The throbbing in his chest, the nerves on end, the sweating…it was as if he were running a marathon rather than lying next to another man._

 _Keeping perfectly still, Piers felt his entire body teeter on edge as he shifted his hand over Chris's. As carefully as he would fine tune his scope, he wove his fingers into place and gave a gentle squeeze. There was no response from the hibernating captain much to his relief and chagrin. Looking back up at the tent canvas above him, Piers let out a sigh and acknowledged what he was doing. He was holding Chris Redfield's hand. It was a solid warmth in his grasp, calloused and large like the man himself._

 _Before Piers could react, the hand preciously held in his yanked him over and the world spun violently. He staggered like a newborn calf as the pain in his right shoulder returned with a vengeance and fell forward onto the harsh metal ground._

 _"Piers," he could hear Chris shout. Opening his eyes, Piers could see his shifted right arm oozing green fluids from the exposed joints and sparking bright blue flashes of bioelectricity. It had never looked so horrendous before. The hiss of steamed pressure releasing and crash of metal falling apart echoed in the space they were at. "Damn it…"_

 _"Just go," Piers shouted at him. The underwater facility was rapidly collapsing. With the amount of pain he was feeling, there was no chance he was going to be able to move fast enough to get out of here in time. The vision in his right eye was nearly gone in its blurriness and he would barely be able to walk let alone run. It even felt as if the skin on his face and chest wall were beginning to tear from the virus gaining footholds and seeking reformation of his tissues._

 _"No. You're going to be ok." Chris grabbed his left hand and yanked him up onto his feet. Draping Pier's undamaged arm over his shoulders, Chris supported him as best as he could and began dragging him towards the door. Piers could feel the pressure in his right arm increasing, pulsing with his heart beat. His discomfort at the out of control shift was nearly paralyzing. Piers wanted to die... his self-disgust and loathing were like acid upon his will. He was becoming a monster, exactly like those the BSAA fought against. "We're almost there."_

 _As they tumbled through the door, Piers was thrown from Chris's side as the world once again spun and blurred. As he found his footing over the uneven rubble beneath him, he could see a swarm of undead rapidly approaching. At one point this place was likely a prestigious academy, but now its elegance was no more than tattered ruins. The infected rushing forward were younger than any he had ever seen before, but he couldn't show them any mercy. Blood and lifeless corpses littered the floor around him as if there had been a fierce battle only moments before._

 _Piers' right arm ached, not from the pain of infection this time, but from the struggle of carrying his anti-material rifle awkwardly. Lifting it back into its position on his left shoulder, he lined up the shots and took them without hesitation. Barely grown children fell from his head shots like empty corn husks upon the ground. Behind him he could hear Chris shooting at their enemies with the same efficiency. There was a smoothness in their rhythm, an understanding of action that worked without words. Chris had his back and there was a sense of security in that. There was no doubt in Piers' mind that he could trust Chris Redfield with his life._

 _The click of an empty chamber from Chris's gun gave Piers a short shot of fear. There was no time for mistakes at a time like this, the swarm closing in endlessly. Grabbing a loaded magazine from his belt, Piers threw it behind him and called out to his captain. The experienced veteran caught the magazine and swiftly reloaded his gun without skipping a beat. They were a powerful team, a partnership to be admired and envied._

 _As the last of the teenagers joined the others in the rubble, Piers took in the horrid sight. He pitied the infected youths that would never have a chance at pursuing the future they always dreamed of. There was something desperate and innately wrong about seeing such life corrupted. He could feel himself questioning everything he had known about his cause as a whisper of his thoughts from that moment echoed about him. How could someone infect helpless children? What tactical advantage could possibly be gained from them? Turning to check in on his captain, Piers was surprised to find himself alone._

 _"Piers, I have a bad feeling about this." An unfamiliar female voice echoed in the empty room. Spinning slowly to search for the source, Piers was surprised to find a cell phone open next to his foot. He hesitantly looked around before picking it up and placing it against his ear. The voice continued with a sense of exasperation. "You said it yourself. Chris doesn't remember you or the BSAA. He was missing for nearly six months doing God knows what. Do you really think putting him in charge of a team and sending them out on a high stakes mission is a good idea?"_

 _"We have no choice, Amanda. It's not like I can ask the terrorists to put off their plans for a few days while I jog my captain's memory." The words came unbidden from his mouth as he responded to her. His brow scrunched together in annoyance and with a blink of his eyes, the room around him melted away into that of a cheap hotel room. Adjusting his hold on the phone, he sat down on the ugly floral comforter._

 _"You do have a say in this though and you know it! HQ would listen to you if you offered them an alternative. Why should you have to step down just because he's back? They are your team Piers. You've been leading them as Alpha team leader for six months."_

 _"Alpha team has always been his. I was simply keeping them in line until he returned," he replied as simply as if he were stating that the sky was blue. His mouth was continuing the conversation despite him listening to this all for the first time._

 _"Piers," Amanda sighed as she recognized a losing battle. Stubbornness was a trait that ran strong in the Nivans family and Piers was no exception._

 _"This is the fastest way to get him to remember everything. If he gets out of line, I promise I'll step in," he tried to placate. There was no need for her to worry unnecessarily. It was just another mission, just another chance to make the world a better place._

 _"It might be too late at that point. You know if Mom finds out, she'll never forgive me for letting you go through with this."_

 _"And just how exactly would you stop me little sister," Piers teased. His lips quirked up in a tired smirk, "Last time I checked you don't graduate West Point for another six months."_

 _"Hey now, its five months thank you very much. And don't think I'm above calling Claire. She'd have you both bound and gagged on my doorstep before Jill could send reinforcements." Piers laughed and shook his head at the notion. His sister was a spitfire, but her heart was in the right place. "Just promise me you'll be careful."_

 _"I promise," he whispered. The phone dissipated into a wisp of smoke that began to quickly grow in size. Piers let his hand drop down to his side and tried to clear his throat as the smoke surrounded him. His right arm began to ache and then violently shift into its claw like form. Yet unlike its usual behavior, the electricity rippled spastically and he found himself curling up towards the extremity from the power of it. It was hard to concentrate when there were so many sensations and feelings in his body. Mentally he felt himself disengaging in an effort to try and block out the pain._

 _"Piers," he heard shouted in the distance. Blinking his eyes open and forcing himself to straighten, he felt a hand grab his left shoulder. The smoke cleared to reveal the mutilated form of HAOS on the ground beside him and Chris Redfield in front of him. Piers tried to pull back from his touch, but the Alpha team leader held on tight. "Come on. Just stay with me."_

 _Piers looked up at Chris's worried face and tried to focus on him. There was so much racing through his mind. He was infected. They were in an unsafe place. Chris needed to escape. There was a desperation in Chris's voice as he asserted that Piers was going to be ok. That was the final nail in the coffin. They both knew he was going to die, if not from this damn oil rig collapsing then from the infection quickly getting out of control. He felt a moment of regret at the evident sadness on his partner's face._

 _"I'm sorry…Captain," Piers tried to tell him. It was still the right decision at the end of the day and he would do it again and again if it meant Chris would survive. He was running out of time. Piers wanted him to understand why he had sacrificed himself, to give them both closure. "I did it for the BSAA…for the future!"_

 _"I know. You did a real good thing," Chris cut him off. Piers frowned as he realized that Chris was missing the heart of his reasoning altogether._

 _"As long as you-"_

 _"I don't wanna to hear it!" Chris moved his hand from Piers' shoulder to the back of his head. He made sure that Piers was looking him right in the eye before he continued. "We're both getting outta here, all right?"_

 _Piers could feel the fear that had been wrapping around him dissipate as he looked into Chris's steady brown eyes. Wanting to believe that his captain was right and that maybe he would be ok, he gave him a small nod. Chris released Piers' head and gave him a pat on the left arm before turning to lead._

 _"Let's go," Chris ordered._

 _Jogging after him, the landscape around them changed. The cacophony of the dying oil rig fell away to silence and the metal surroundings gave way to a dirty plaster hallway. Rays of light streaming down from broken patches in the ceiling helped light the otherwise dim space. Catching up to the now slower moving captain, Piers looked back at the footsteps tailing them. Four men in BSAA uniforms walked in formation following the lead of their Alpha. A woman in a blue dress with a red scarf walked amongst them seemingly being protected as the unit moved. Something about the way she moved struck him as familiar, but Piers couldn't quite place his finger on why. They walked right around him, as if he weren't actually there._

 _Turning back to face the front, Piers was surprised to see someone identical to himself walking beside Chris. He passed the others like an unseen ghost and went to take a closer look at the doppelganger. The same hazel eyes roved over the hallway ahead and the man quirked his anti-material rifle just off to the side as Piers preferred to do. The only difference between them was the presence of Piers' shifted arm and the lack of on his lookalike. As if sensing the strange energy in the air, the other Piers looked back at the rest of the team._

 _"The woman- she's gone," he exclaimed. Chris stopped and looked back at the rest of Alpha team as the other Piers continued, "Finn!"_

 _"I don't know what happened. She was here a second ago," a soldier at the back of the squad replied. The panic was evident on his young features and he nervously paced back as if to check the previous hallway before thinking better of it._

 _With an audible snap, metal bars dropped from the ceiling in front of Piers trapping him with the rest of Alpha team as his doppelganger and Chris were locked on the outside. The team looked around in confusion as its leaders got up from the floor and approached the bars blocking their escape._

 _"Ada," Chris accused as he looked past them all at the woman strutting towards them from the darkness. The woman in the blue dress smirked at them and stopped just outside the gate._

 _"Thanks for the escort," her sultry voice drawled. Piers recognized that voice, but again didn't know why. Her name and facial features were unfamiliar, but there was something about her that struck him as otherwise. "Here's something to remember me by."_

 _Piers watched in slow motion as Ada threw a ball into the middle of the cell. Horror shot through him as he recognized the design. Needles launched from the device, hitting the unprepared Alphas with their viral load. A mix of shouting and screaming erupted as the soldiers jerked in confusion and pain. Piers watched in a sick fascination as their bodies began to go up in flames. They oozed a gel that was quickly forming into a chrysalid around each individual, not unlike the early C-virus that he had read about in the Neo Umbrella database. Turning his attention back to the two outside the bars, he could see Chris reaching out towards what remained of the young man they called Finn. If he had taken one step closer, Piers could have grabbed both of their reaching fingers and connected them, but instead he stood back to watch the events unfolding. As Finn finally succumbed to the chrysalid stage of infection, Chris dropped his head in sadness._

 _As quickly as it had begun, the room fell into silence. There was barely a moment of reprieve for the two remaining members of Alpha team before the sound of cracking shells forewarned the outcome of their comrades._

 _"Captain, we gotta move," the other Piers demanded. However Chris stood still in shock and horror, watching the cocoons begin to hatch. The prison bars that had held them apart before, now lifted open as the chrysalids shattered completely to reveal four angry Napads. "Now! We gotta go!"_

 _Chris and the other Piers lifted up their guns to begin shooting, but Piers could see the hesitation on Chris's face from where he stood amongst the Napads. Within seconds the Napad borne of Finn slammed into the BSAA captain throwing both Alphas to the ground. Grabbing Chris and shoving him against a wall, the Napad beat him mercilessly before throwing his limp unconscious body against the floor._

 _"Chris," both Piers screamed, but it was the doppelganger Piers that went into action. He lifted his gun and started shooting at his former comrades. Crouching down to grab Chris with one hand, he kept firing with one arm as he began dragging his captain towards freedom. The sound of gunfire and bodies hitting cement soon grew distant and Piers was left standing in the hallway with the empty chrysalid shells._

 _Silently Piers walked over to what remained of the small destructive ball that lay finished on the floor. He picked it up carefully and felt a shiver of fear run down his spine as he recognized the C-virus applicator. The device that destroyed Alpha team in a matter of minutes was identical to the prototype Maria had him perfecting for combat. With that realization, the floor dropped out from beneath him and Piers screamed as he fell into the unknown._

 _-.-.-.-_

Jerking upright out of bed, Piers felt his head pounding against the rapid ascent to proper consciousness. He was covered in sweat and his sheets were tangled into knots around his legs. His arm was shifted and throbbing angrily from the bioelectricity rippling through it. Gingerly Piers slid to sit on the edge of the bed and took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heartrate. His splitting headache protested any further movement and for a while he sat there clutching his forehead with his left hand, trying to make sense of the lingering nightmares. They had felt real, almost like a film reel of memories thrown together out of order. The one consistent thing throughout them was the presence of the man sitting in the prison downstairs. He was the only one who could confirm if any of it was actually true.

A lick of guilt brought a frown to Pier's lips. If his nightmares tonight were memories, then how could he have been a spy for Maria? He had felt strongly in the BSAA cause that much was for certain, or at least he had felt strongly for the man leading the charge. When had he switched sides?

Sitting up to straighten out his back, Piers caught his reflection in the mirror. His muscular form and tired expression were the same as always, but it was his shifted arm that caught his attention. Among the infected it was considered a handsome piece of mutation, but now he looked at it with sadness. Shifting it back into a human arm, Piers slipped the lock on his shoulder back into place. It felt like the mask of confidence he had had in himself and in Neo Umbrella was cracked. With a roar of pain and disgust, Piers stood up and slammed his fist into the mirror. The reflective glass shattered and fell into the sink, drops of his blood sticking to the pieces. He grimaced at the mess and watched his hand quickly heal, courtesy of the virus running through his veins. Piers felt tears spring forth and run down his cheeks. It didn't matter what side he had fought for before…he was one of the infected now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Maria Gomez's office would put most executives to shame. The sleek modern furniture was luxurious, but it was the wall of windows overlooking the compound below and the harbor beyond that truly made the space magnificent. Piers had always found the space a bit haughty for the humble backgrounds that Maria had said they'd come from together, but image was important when you were leading a company as influential as Neo Umbrella.

"Thank you for coming up on such short notice," Maria greeted Piers as he entered the room. Closing her laptop and setting it aside, she stood up and stretched from behind the thick mahogany desk.

"I was working late anyways. I know we need the results as soon as possible."

"Indeed. I just want a bit of your time and then you can get back to the lab. Tell me what you've found so far."

"As you expected, the steel injection applicators were unable to pierce the standard issue body armor. The three different applicator coatings I'm testing will be ready for trial runs tomorrow morning. Presuming that my calculations were correct at least one of them should be suitable without applicator adjustment." Piers kept his eyes down as he recited his day's work. The dream last night had left him exhausted and on edge. He had caught himself pacing the lab restlessly today, trying to remember why he was here doing this. Questions were nagging him, but he managed to avoid the prison nonetheless.

"Remind me again, what material coatings we are testing?"

"Copper, tungsten-carbide, and Teflon. As I noted in my last report, all three of the materials were compatible with the applicator without effecting the virus inside or the release mechanism for the needles," Piers listed off as Maria strut around her desk. Leaning against it, she folded her arms across her chest and nodded her head.

"Bring me the results of the material tests as soon as possible. Our partners will have to mass produce the coatings quickly and I want to make sure we give them as much time as possible before the attack."

"Of course," Piers replied. He remained standing in front of her desk, waiting to be dismissed. Her small fingers came up to massage the creases of her forehead as if to ease pain away. It was no surprise she looked troubled. Planning an attack on ten U.S. military bases with an organization as fickle as Tricell would give anyone a headache. Yet if they succeeded, the project would have the foothold it needed to change the country's political direction. "Are you sure we need to go after the military? Couldn't we just infect some of the major cities and make our plea on behalf of the citizens?"

"The reason those before us have failed is because they didn't distinguish between a useless civilian and a highly trained soldier. If diplomacy doesn't work, we'll have ready-made soldiers for an army," Maria said as her eyes looked off unfocused.

"Do you really think it will come to that?" Maria let out a sigh and took a brief glance out of the window. The compound below them was buzzing with activity and preparations despite the hour of evening. Everyone was gearing up for the likelihood that they were going to war rather than expecting to make peace.

"I thought we got rid of that naïveté months ago. Don't you remember what happened the last time you doubted me?" Piers recalled the incident quite vividly as he bit his lip in consideration. It was one of his first memories. He had questioned Maria why they couldn't just reason with the BSAA and try to find a solution that didn't involve them killing everyone infected. She let him try his idea when they attacked later that day. Piers got three bullet wounds to the chest for his effort before she intervened and helped him escape.

"I used to be just like you Piers. Strong, brilliant, and stupidly trusting," Maria started, "Then the man I looked up to most betrayed me. He infected me and tried to brainwash me into being someone else. When I finally remembered the truth, I was filled with such a rage… but I got my revenge and I learned my lesson."

Maria stopped herself from ranting and took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. He watched carefully as she unwound the band holding her hair out of her face. Thick locks of auburn hair cascaded around her neck and down her back. Running her fingers through it, she focused back on Piers.

"You and I are alike though. The same virus runs in our veins. We have suffered betrayal and abandonment," Maria spoke softly. Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her hands around Piers' neck and pressed her body suggestively against his. Piers tensed up beneath her touch, carefully placing his hands uncertainly upon her waist. "But we have each other now, don't we? You'll help me achieve our goals."

Maria jerked his head down to her level and placed a sloppy kiss upon his lips. As she continued kissing him, Piers began to panic. The boredom and distaste that rose over him like a tidal wave seemed surreal. Maria was a beautiful woman and for her to make a move on him should have been exhilarating, but instead he felt nothing. There was no thrum of excitement in his veins, no pressure in his groin…it was as if he were kissing a dead fish rather than a highly sought after woman. Mechanically Piers tried to kiss her back, but there was no feeling behind it. Guilt and fear began to seep into his mind. There was an attractive woman kissing him and his body was not reacting. Had the virus made him incapable? What was wrong with him?

Her hands began to pull at his clothes and wander the planes of his chest. Piers couldn't help but feel violated. He didn't want to offend her, but he also couldn't remain a bystander in this much longer. Her fingers undid his belt with an audible snap of leather and several of his top buttons were already worked open. She was trying to sweep him up in her wake, the destination obvious to his disengaged mind. With all the gentleness he could muster, Piers captured her groping hands and put them back down at her sides. Ignoring his signal to stop, her lips began nibbling down his jaw and onto his neck. Anxiety set in and he struggled to keep himself from freaking out. His arm was pulsing bioelectricity beneath its skin, practically humming with the possibility of a fight.

"I have to go, Maria," Piers calmly stated despite the havoc going on in his head. "The later I start those tests, the more delayed the results."

"They can wait just a little while longer, can't they? I need you Piers." Maria pouted at him, jutting her breasts out in clear temptation. Her hands once again returned to his chest, fingering the lapels of his shirt open further. Pushing her away gently, Piers managed a warm smile to soften the rejection.

"I won't have the project held up because of me," Piers lied. He was grasping at straws trying to get out of this mess. His breathing was erratic with distress and he couldn't meet her eyes in fear that she would see his disgust.

"Then perhaps I could pay a visit to your quarters later this evening? You'd have something nice to look forward to."

"Not tonight Maria," Piers said firmly, the last bit of his patience wearing thin. Stepping back from her carefully as if fearing another attack, Piers began to make his escape. As he threw open the office door, he looked back at her and saw the calculative look on her features. Piers gave her a regretful nod hoping it might ease her conscious. "I can't be at peace until we accomplish our goals. Forgive me."

"Do what has to be done," Maria replied. Turning her back on him, she returned to the other side of her desk and sat down as if to get back to work. As he began to close the door, she called out after him, "I'll be waiting."

.-.-.-.-.-..-.-

"Piers? I wasn't expecting you." Evan got up from his seat and took a hesitant step towards the pitch black hallway, the game on his phone forgotten. Separating from the darkness itself, Piers stepped into the dim lighting of the prison hold. The tension in the air surrounding him was nearly palpable, but he smiled as if all was fine. "Are you ok?"

"Can't sleep again. Thought I'd come down and see if you'd like a short break before I head to the range." The lie came smoothly despite the chaotic state of his mind.

"Yeah, sure," Evan replied slowly, hesitating to agree. It was obvious he wasn't sure if leaving Piers on guard duty was a good idea. In fact it was rather unnerving to see the always put together sniper disheveled and out of sorts. "I'll be back in half an hour. Text me if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks." Piers carefully sat down in the chair and listened for the telltale creak of the door to the outside corridor closing. He didn't really know why he was here. The panic that had consumed him in Maria's office was now starting to wear off. Letting his head drop into his hands, Piers tried to collect his thoughts. The prison was a strange choice of place to unconsciously run to. Yet this space felt safer than his quarters right now, something about no one expecting him to be here.

"Hard night," a voice asked from the cell. Piers barely kept himself from groaning at the intruding understatement.

"Don't you ever sleep," he retorted.

"Not much anymore. Nightmares and all." Piers lifted his head and looked at Chris Redfield. The man in question had once more abandoned his bed for the cement floor closest to the bars. Even from the distance from which he sat Piers could see the tiredness that clung to the BSAA captain. Not unlike himself Piers mentally admitted.

"Tell me what's bothering you Piers. What's on your mind?" Piers shook his head and averted his eyes. The concerned look on Chris's face shook him to the core. Here was a man locked up in a dark holding cell likely to face execution or infection within a matter of hours or days, and he was more concerned with how Piers was doing than trying to escape. It was pitiful. "It's not like I can do much about it from in here, but I can listen. Trust me when I say that anything you tell me will remain between the two of us."

"Trust," Piers whispered. In the back of his mind, a piece of the puzzle clicked together. He trusted Chris. Piers Nivans, one of the lead researchers of Neo Umbrella and confidante of Maria Gomez, trusted Captain Chris Redfield of the BSAA. When he wrapped his brain around the strangeness of that, Piers realized that it felt inherent. He might not remember anything before six months ago, but he knew without a doubt that he trusted the man in front of him. That's why he had come down here. He needed someone to talk to, someone that he trusted to keep quiet about the troubles plaguing his mind.

"Were we partners before," Piers asked timidly.

"Yeah…you were the best I ever had, but don't tell Jill that. She would transfer me to Antarctica or something." Piers couldn't help but chuckle at his banter. He didn't know who he was referring to by Jill, but it was obvious that she was held in high esteem by the captain. The tension in his shoulders melted slightly and the electricity that had been writhing beneath the skin of his arm finally ceased.

Looking back at Chris, Piers found himself assessing the captain anew. He was strong, at least semi intelligent if he was half the problem his record showed him to be, and he genuinely cared about the people he worked with. All of the evidence pointed to Chris having been a great partner before. He didn't doubt that Chris would protect his back in a pinch if they were on the same side. Imagine what they could accomplish together if he was infected…surely he'd agree right?

"Would you want to be partners again," Piers asked carefully. He felt oddly vulnerable voicing the question fluttering around his brain. There was a chance that Chris wouldn't remember any of this after he woke up from the infection, but still his answer mattered.

"I wouldn't want it any other way." A sudden warmth filled Piers' chest and he couldn't stop the small smile from forming on his lips. "But let's get back to the matter at hand. Why were you upset earlier?"

Instantly, Piers' smile fell and he felt awkward. Would someone bring something of this nature up with their field partner? Shouldn't he wait until Chris was on their team before exposing himself in such a nature? Putting aside his discomfort, he began to carefully phrase what he was going to say.

"I had a woman try to seduce me tonight," Piers said slowly. Chris tried to hide his surprise behind a dry cough as the sniper continued, "And despite her efforts I didn't feel even a remote flicker of interest."

The pink blush upon Piers' cheeks gave away his embarrassment and discomfort, but it was obvious that he needed to get it off his chest.

"I'm just worried that something is wrong. Perhaps the virus-." Piers was cut off by the rich sound of laughter. Glaring at Chris, he was offended to see the amusement in his eyes. As if noting the sniper's anger, Chris tried to recover.

"I'm sorry Piers, really. I shouldn't have laughed. That was honestly the last thing I expected for you to say."

"It's not funny," Piers grumbled, huffing a bit as he crossed his arms in front of him. He was miffed that Chris had laughed at his concern and was truly embarrassed that he had brought it up in the first place. What had he been thinking?

"Trust me, there's nothing wrong with you," Chris started, but Piers was no longer in the mood to listen. He snapped at him thoughtlessly.

"And how would you know?!"

"Well for starters, you can't fuck a gay man straight," Chris chuckled.

-.-.-.-..-….-.-

As soon as the words left his mouth, Chris knew he had made a mistake. The shell shocked expression on the sniper's face gave him away. The words hung in the air between them. Chris watched the emotions roll across his face as processed the information: denial, fear, realization, and finally uncomfortable acceptance of the possibility. He had to give the young man credit, he seemed to be taking the news a lot better than Chris had expected. Not that Chris would have broken the news to him so soon. He missed the sniper in all senses of the word, but there were bigger priorities right now than romance. There was a silent deliberation in Chris's head as to whether or not to break the long silence, but Piers did it for him.

"We were more than field partners, weren't we," Piers dragged out as he stood up. Pacing slowly towards the cell, Chris could tell that Piers was sorting through a storm of emotions. His eyes were roving over Chris as if he were processing him through a new filter. It was as if the air in the room had been sucked away.

"We walked a fine line," Chris admitted hesitantly. Piers stopped in front of the cell and twisted around to face him. Getting to his feet, Chris stayed close to the bars and watched the sniper closely.

"It all makes sense now," Piers remarked, "The way that you singled me out for capture, the reason you were more interested in my memory than your mission objectives…tell me Chris, if you had succeeded in getting me out of that lab facility the other day what would you have done? Taken me to be interrogated? Or hidden me away in your quarters?"

The implication behind his words brought a naughty set of images to Chris's mind. His member twitched in excitement at the countless possibilities. It wasn't hard for him to imagine Piers laid out on his bed, knotting up the sheets in his hands as Chris pleasured him. Trying to ignore his body's response, Chris focused in on Piers' assessing hazel eyes.

"The BSAA has always come first for both of us. You were the Lieutenant of my team and my field partner-"

"But you wanted more, didn't you? Even now I can see where your eyes are lingering," Piers interrupted. Chris was surprised that Piers was bold enough to call him out like this. He hadn't given those pouting lips more than a few passing glances, but he gave his position away clearly to the attentive sniper. Piers moved closer until the bars were barely keeping them apart and challenged him. "Why don't you take it? See if it'll spark my memory."

Chris hesitated, obviously torn between what was appropriate for calming the out-of-control situation and his desperation to feel the young man once more. After a moment's war he closed the remaining distance and pressed his lips against Piers'. His desire for the sniper was unquestionable even after all of this time. There was a moment of shock before the ace began cautiously returning the favor. Lips fought for dominance as their tongues danced against one another. Piers' hands unconsciously reached through the bars and pulled Chris closer, despite the barrier between them. Chris captured the fingers of one hand and held it against his heart as he began to pull back from the kiss, separating them back into two beings. He let his forehead rest against Piers' and there was a moment of silence as they breathed each other in.

"Don't be afraid, Piers." As if realizing what they had done, Piers jerked back from him and averted his eyes. He took an unsteady breath and with a little shake of his head, quickly retreated back to the end of the hallway. Leaning against the wall, Piers focused his gaze out of the doorway towards the exit.

"Would you like to talk about it," Chris asked. He could see the usually well-organized sniper was fighting a battle inside.

"No, I just need some quiet right now." Chris nodded his head in understanding and returned to sitting on the small cot.

"Take all the time you need is what I'd like to say, but we both know I'm running out of time. You'll have to make a decision soon. Are you going to stand by Gomez and her decisions? Or will we be making a daring escape?"

"We," Piers asked startled. He looked back at Chris and found the man confidently staring back at him over his shoulder.

"Yes, we. I'm not leaving here without you," he stated as if the matter was already settled. Even though Chris sat in a prison cell, Piers could feel the certainty in his words. There was no doubt in Chris's mind that they would be getting out of here together.

"Where would we go?"

"The BSAA of course. It's where we belong."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

The loud click of heels slapping cement alerted Chris Redfield and everyone else in the prison that someone unusual was arriving into their domain. It was the guard's reaction however that told him exactly who was walking their way. Evan had jumped out of his chair so quickly to salute that his phone had slipped out of his hands. He ignored its loud clattering abandonment on the floor and kept his eyes on the woman walking down the hallway instead.

"Captain Christopher Redfield," Maria Gomez called out as she paused in the doorway. She strut forward as if upon a cloud, entering the room confidently and assessing him with an air of disdain. She blatantly ignored the guard at attention and stalked slowly towards his cell, giving him time to adjust his seat on the cot. Something about her made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. "You look much better now than when we first met."

Chris silently observed as she approached the bars. For a half a second he considered making a jump at grabbing her, but if a grown ass J'avo like the guard on duty was practically cowering in her presence he should probably reconsider a spur of the moment attack. She was likely more than what she appeared. He kept his back to the wall and moved to stand in the center of the cell incase an opportunity to take her out presented itself.

"The others said you wouldn't talk for them, but I think they just don't have the right touch. Funny how useless soldiers become when you tell them they can't torture someone."

"That's kind of you," Chris remarked skeptically.

"It is, isn't it? Really I just wanted to save the joy of breaking you for myself. Where's the fun in letting someone else do it," Maria quipped as she leaned back against the wall in front of his cell. She slowly looked him over from head to toe, almost like one would examine a piece of meat before purchase. "I had expected you to look fairly downtrodden after a few days imprisoned in this hole, but you look awfully chipper. Is it because you're hopeful you can escape…?"

Maria clicked her tongue in amusement as if the idea of it were absolutely ridiculous. Chris kept his features even and remained silent. He wondered how much information he could get out of her if he played his cards right.

"I would have thought our time together in Edonia would have fixed that naiveté," Maria said with a slight pout. Chris narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled at his confusion. Maria shifted her position against the wall to cross her arms and tuck a hand under her chin. "Does this ring a bell?"

"Carla Radames," Chris whispered as the pose struck a chord in his memory. The familiarity of her voice and posturing had been well hidden by the difference in physical appearances. She now neither appeared like the original Carla Radames or Ada Wong. It was the perfect disguise allowing her to hide in plain sight.

"Ding, we got a winner," she retorted sarcastically. Her smirk could have put the Cheshire's to shame. "I prefer to go by the name Maria Gomez now. Those old identities were beneath me."

"But you were dead. We saw you fall," Chris remarked as his brows knit together. His rising anger was making it difficult to focus. All he wanted to do was wipe that smirk off of her face and make her suffer for all of the people she had killed.

"The enhanced C-virus is a beautiful thing. Let's just say I have the ability to shift my physical form when put under duress." Chris took a deep breath slowly as he tried to contain his vehement desire to kill her. Carla had cost him so much…

"There we go. That tortured expression is much better. After all, you did destroy the BSAA's precious Alpha team. It's only fitting that you suffer for leading them to their deaths."

"You killed them."

"No, I gave them a chance to be more than the puny humans they were. Your sniper was the one who murdered them. Not that you would have noticed. Being a napad punching bag has its perks and all."

"You're insane," Chris spit out. Carla laughed at his assertion and let her hands drop down to her side. Pushing off from the wall, she paced slightly closer. Her eyes glittered with excitement at the pain she knew she was causing the man before her.

"You never treat my pets kindly…Iluza, HAOS…but finally I have one that stops you dead in your tracks without lifting a finger. Is it because he has your lieutenant's face?" Chris grew numb with cold anger as the harsh reality of her words slapped him in the face. He had read the report on Carla Radames and Ada Wong. Everything suddenly made sense in a way that had his heart dropping to the floor. It wasn't a hard leap to realize that he had made a serious mistake.

"Did you really think your little puppy, newly infected I might add, could survive a blast that finished off my HAOS?" She laughed as his head snapped up to glare at her. It was easy for Maria to tell that she had found his trigger point. As she had guessed from watching their interactions over the years, Piers was and continued to be Redfield's weakness. "I brought him back from the dead. A death YOU left him to. Now he's mine to do with as I wish. And yet here you are, sitting in a cage hopeful that you might escape and reach him. You do realize he's not yours anymore, right? Would you like to hear how he fucks me when he isn't busy creating weapons to destroy your precious little BSAA?"

Chris snapped and angrily smashed his fist into the small metal sink beside him. Charging the bars, he grabbed them and pulled them apart with all of his strength only to find they didn't give a centimeter. Pounding a fist against one of them in frustration, he seethed in his anger and was consumed by the rising swell of self-hatred. How could he have been so blind to believe his dead partner had survived an explosion in the depths of the ocean? It was apparent now in hindsight that the creature masquerading around as Piers was no more than a clone of the infected original, a pawn in Carla's game. Carla stepped close enough that he could see the white of her teeth, but remained far enough away that his long arms couldn't reach her.

"I hope you stay this defiant once you're infected. It would bring me great pleasure to see those eyes of yours swimming with rage as your body is forced to do my bidding," she remarked with venom in her voice. The evil smirk on her face tilted up in victory as she absorbed the radiating darkness coming off of him. It was almost too easy to get him riled when she was around.

-.-.-..-….-.-

"Maria?" Chris and Maria turned to look at the interruption. Piers stood in the doorway, confusion clearly marked on his features. After a dreamless night of fitful sleep, he had decided to return to the prison to question the BSAA captain again. Hallucinations, nightmares, or memories, Piers needed answers. If Maria hadn't thrown him so far off course with her behavior last night, he would have probably used his time with their prisoner differently. However as it stood, he wasn't going to be alive to ask Chris anything if he couldn't convince Maria that his insubordination of her orders was for a good reason.

"Piers? What are you doing down here?" She walked away from the bars and closed the space between them. For his evident surprise, Piers tried to keep his cool as he walked down to meet her.

"Looking for you," Piers lied. A nibble of gossip he heard in passing was the first thing to come to mind for an excuse. "I heard from the operations staff that you had a plaga delivered this morning? I thought you had said that plaga were an inferior infection that left the participant nothing more than an empty shell."

"It seemed only fitting that the golden boy of the BSAA should get the least powerful infection. He's unworthy of anything stronger," Maria stated with a haughty expression.

"It seems a shame that he should be wasted on parasitic servitude. If we gave him the basic C virus we could at least use him to train the soldiers and benefit our cause," Piers tried to reason. He wasn't expecting this battle, nor seeing Maria here. It was only thanks to his quick thinking that he was able to bluff this far.

"Are you kidding me? Just the sight of him on the battlefield would shake the BSAA at their core, no other soldiers required. We will use the plaga and maybe if he proves truly obedient, we can use him as a representative to gain face with the public. Imagine their shock when they see he's switched sides." Piers reluctantly nodded his head in agreement, even though he couldn't disagree more. Now wasn't the time to argue with Maria and rile her ire. She wrapped an arm around Piers' broad back and pulled him along with her as she walked back towards the cell. A chill went up his spine as he caught a glimpse of blood on the floor of Chris's cell. What exactly had he interrupted?  
"You have impeccable timing. I actually need you to take care of a small problem for me. Evan there has been abandoning his post," Maria continued. Piers glanced back over his shoulder at the man in question. He could smell the sweat and fear on him from across the room. It was as if the man were trying to sink into the bricks behind him and stay out of sight. "We have reason to believe he's been tipping off the BSAA and trying to help Redfield here escape. We can't have that happening now, can we?"

Piers kept his expression neutral even as he felt the tension in his body rise. He focused in on his breathing, calling upon his experience as a sniper to regulate his body functions and keep calm. Maria was onto him, albeit indirectly, but if she asked Evan who was covering for his casual escapades Piers was toast.

"What are you orders," he asked quietly.

"Kill him," Maria replied slowly as if savoring the words. Piers thanked his luck as he shook free of Maria's grasp and started over towards Evan. As if recognizing the impending doom, the J'avo shifted nervously foot to foot. Without an inch of hesitation, Piers slammed a fist into the guard's solar plexus to knock the wind out of him. He pinned Evan's throat in the crushing grip of his hands and forced his head back against the wall.

"He's innocent," Chris shouted from the cell. The honesty of those words made Piers feel all the guiltier, but he had to do this. Evan was the only person who knew about his visits to Chris, the only weakness he had at the moment. He needed more time to figure out what was going on in his head and what he was going to do about it. The only way that was going to happen was if Maria wasn't breathing down his neck with suspicion. Evan struggled against him, but was quickly losing the battle. Piers could feel the tissue of his neck giving way to the strength of his fingers.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Redfield. He might look like your Piers, but this man is a soldier under my command," Maria declared. Piers felt Evan's neck snap clean off, sending his head rolling onto the floor. Blood splattered from the gaping wound, dirtying his hands and clothes. He let the body drop to the floor and said a silent prayer to whatever deity above might forgive him for his actions. Kneeling down beside the discarded head, Piers gently closed the bloodshot eyes.

"Good work Piers," Maria complimented as she walked over and laid a hand on his lowered shoulders, "Though you could have done it without such a mess. Have someone clean it up immediately and get a new guard posted. I have a conference call to get to."

A moment of silence passed after the sound of heels clacking was muted by the thick prison door. Piers abandoned his post at Evan's body and approached the cell, noting the way Chris avoided eye contact. The tense posture in the usually lax BSAA captain was an immediate red flag that something was wrong. Piers let his eyes rove over him as Chris turned away, keeping his expression from view.

"Are you ok? Your hands…," Piers trailed off. Blood dripped down from where Chris had opened his knuckles. A significant splatter lay on the sink and a few of the cell's bars. Had he hit such objects in a rage or had Maria gotten to his head somehow? He didn't appear injured anywhere else. "She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"You aren't Piers." The sniper cocked his head to the side in confusion at the growled accusation.

"What do you mean-"

"Stop playing! I know you aren't Piers," Chris shouted. Piers gaped at him in shock and confusion. If Piers hadn't already been so close to the bars, he might not have heard the comment to follow. "You're just some monster that looks like him."

"You don't really believe that," Piers scowled. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but feel an inch of doubt. He tried to shake it away and focus on Chris.  
"I was wrong before." Chris's shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world laid upon them. It was almost as if the wind had been taken from his sail and he were nothing more than a dingy upon the turbulent sea.

"No you weren't. I'm starting to remember things now. Faces I can't place, events I don't understand…," Piers trailed off as he thought back to the horrid nightmares from the other night. The same dreams that had led him down these stairs to talk to Chris. He was remembering things that made Chris's stories more believable, throwing shadows of doubt upon all that he thought he knew.

"You don't recognize them because you weren't there. Piers was. All you are is a sad excuse for a great man." Piers felt the pressure in his arm throbbing beneath his skin, begging for him to shift and accept the anger coursing through his veins. He wanted to shout at Chris and curse him for all of the confusion he was experiencing. His happiness at finding the BSAA captain alive despite Maria's visit was conflicting with the hurt of the same man's denial. Ignoring the virus's desire for violence, he focused on the pain Chris's statement caused him and how it brought light to all of the insecurities floating around his mind. Piers knew he was Piers Nivans, but in a way Chris was right. He was not the Piers Nivans that Chris Redfield had known. He was something more and something less than what he had been. It was up to him to decide if his past was going to matter in his decisions for the future. Forcing his fists to unclench and accept defeat, Piers turned his back on the cell.

"You told me that we were going to get out of there together…that it would be ok." The gravely tone of his voice gave away Piers' emotions despite his efforts to appear neutral. Grimacing at the memory and Chris's obvious rejection of his current form, Piers continued. "You dragged me along, still fighting for my life even though there was no hope for a cure."

Piers worked up the courage to look back at the cell and saw Chris staring at the wall, blatantly ignoring him. Disappointment curled through his gut at the captain's outright dismissal. There was no point in trying to talk to him now. It was as pointless as wishing he were cured. His lips twisted up in a sneer as he glared at Chris. "I wish you had let me die."

Seeing the slight flinch in the BSAA captain from his comment gave the sniper no reprieve. Nodding his head in acceptance of what stood between them, Piers walked away and refused to look back.

-..-.-.-..-.-.-

Piers stormed into his lab and locked the door behind him. His mind felt muddled and overwhelmed, but his body was thrumming with energy. A quick glance at the wall clock warned that the day was slipping away. There wasn't much time to think things through, not if he planned to take action before Maria infected Chris. Pacing in front of his lab bench, Piers narrowed down what he knew for certain. At some point before his memory loss, he had been part of the BSAA and had worked closely with Chris Redfield. His gut told him that he had a deep respect for the man in question and probably something more, but that hardly mattered now with the current state of affairs.

When he set his feelings aside, the truth of the matter was obvious. He needed to help Chris escape. Piers couldn't allow Chris to share his fate as an infected. The BSAA captain stood for too much to be dragged down by a virus, let alone possessed by a humiliating parasite like plaga. However the price of helping him escape would surely be death, if not by the BSAA then by Maria. It was as simple as that.

Piers fingered Evan's bloody phone in his pocket as he considered his choices. He had taken the device on the impulse to keep their messages from being discovered, but now it offered another use. It could be the burner phone he needed to tip off the BSAA. Resetting the phone to factory settings could easily get around whatever lock mechanism Evan had set. The real challenge lay in ensuring that the BSAA would take his call seriously. Pulling the phone out, Piers placed it on the workbench and reset it to factory settings. He stared at it with a small frown, wondering if getting the BSAA involved was worth the trouble.

The sudden sound of the door jiggling in its frame startled Piers from his thoughts. He found himself frozen by the fear that gripped him, even as his mind went into a panic.

"Let me check on him real quick, but I don't think he's finished with the prototype coatings quite yet. Just stay on the phone with me," Maria's voice reassured. The jingle of keys being tried on the door released Piers into motion. He grabbed the phone and slid under the nearby chemical storage shelf just as the lock sprung free. Piers mentally cursed his idiocracy as he heard her heels click into the room. Why had he hid? He should have just put the phone back into his pocket and played it cool. It would have been far less suspicious. "Mr. Nivans isn't here right now, but it looks like there's about two hours left on the test he's running. I'm not sure if this is the last of the tests though."

Piers stiffened as he heard her coming closer to his hiding spot. Her black heeled boots stopped their pacing right beside the shelf as she sighed loudly.

"Yes I know the delay is inconvenient, but if the coating is successful then our odds of succeeding will be more than doubled." Piers couldn't tell exactly what was being said over the phone, but it clearly wasn't what she wanted to hear. Her tone of voice became more agitated and impatient. "Look at the end of the day we'll both get what we want from this. Millions of people will be infected by the attacks and we will have the power to wipe out anyone who may stand against us."

Maria backed away from the shelf and stomped furiously back towards where the prototypes were being tested. Placing her hand against the glass, she stared intently at the three virus applicator balls within. Piers felt like he could hear a pin drop as she listened intently to what was being said on the phone.

"Clearly I haven't been frank enough." The tone of her voice turned icy with her remark and Piers could feel chills run down his back at the sound of it. She was done playing around with whomever she was speaking with. Maria pushed away from the glass and started towards the door with a deadly stalk. Heaven help anyone in her path, her temper was clearly showing its ugly head. "I want the Family destroyed. Not just ousted from power. Every damn one of them must suffer and die for what they've done. If that means I have to kill or infect the entire world to ensure it, I will! No matter the cost, we will finish them. Is that clear?"

The lab door slammed shut as Maria stormed away, on a warpath to an unknown destination. Piers found himself glued to the floor for several moments putting together the pieces. The upcoming attacks were not simply a cry for recognition of the infected; no they were far more sinister. They were going to make an army, one large enough and skilled enough to take out the country at a speed not even the BSAA could fight. He was surprised it had taken him this long to see the truth in Maria's plans. Piers had to stop her. Millions of innocent lives were at stake. Rolling out from under the shelf, Piers stumbled to his feet and relocked the door. Shakily he ran a hand through his hair as he pulled out Evan's phone and dialed the number.

"Hello you have reached BSAA North American Headquarters. How may I direct your call?" Piers took in a shaky breath and adjusted the phone to his other ear. For someone usually so put together and confidant, he felt awfully similar to a fish out of water. "Hello?"

"Yes, sorry," Piers licked his lips nervously. The countdown timer beside the prototype virus applicators caught his eye and a plan began to fall into place. "I need to speak to a woman by the name of Jill. It's regarding Chris Redfield."

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Are you sure Maria asked for you to administer the plaga? She said she would come down and retrieve it herself later this evening," the orderly asked as he set the cooler containing the parasite down on the table. Piers signed off on the permission slip and grabbed the package before he could have doubts.

"She's got more important things to deal with," he replied evenly. Lifting the box into his arms carefully, he nodded at the two J'avo blocking the door. Piers rose an eyebrow in question at their stance, making it clear that he did not approve of their challenge to his authority. As far as they were concerned he was Maria's favorite and thereby had more than enough reason to pick up a package on her behalf. Muttering apologies upon receiving his glare, they stepped aside and let him pass. Piers confidently walked towards the prison even as he half expected the guards to change their minds and come after him at any moment. It didn't surprise him that Maria had been planning on infecting Redfield herself, but she wouldn't have the chance now… not while he had the plaga in his possession.

The prison was wiped clean of evidence, though the smell of stagnant blood and death lingered in the air. Piers frowned at the sight of two unfamiliar guards on either side of the cell. They both looked up at him with hard stares, questioning his presence in the space.

"Maria requested that I infect him immediately. It seems she has plans for him," Piers stated with an air of authority. They both nodded their heads, but kept their eyes on him suspiciously as he moved towards the cell. Behind the bars Chris remained seated on his cot watching Piers approach with a frown. Placing the box on the ground beside the cell, Piers looked at the guard closest to him. "Unlock the door."

"We were instructed to never open the door unless he was unconscious," the guard closest to him argued. Piers stood to his full height and leveled his glare at the man.

"That won't be a problem," Piers replied. Grabbing the small tranq dart he had stolen from the lab, he threw it quickly before the older man had a chance to react. It landed with a solid thud into Chris's left bicep. Cursing followed as Chris yanked the dart out and launched it back at him. Piers neatly dodged the projectile and watched as the man wavered in his stance. His large brown eyes blinked quickly as he tried to fight the spread of the toxin pulling him under. "Open the door."

Shooting a nervous glance at Piers, the guard walked over and began to unlock the cell door. Piers watched as Chris tried to straighten and head towards it. The drugged BSAA captain managed a single punch as Piers entered the cell, but the sniper easily sidestepped it and grabbed him tightly in a hug. The bear of a man struggled weakly against him and soon grew still as he finally relented to the sleep inducing drug. Piers gently laid him out on the floor and set to work binding his wrists and ankles. The small dose of tranquilizing agent was not going to be enough to keep a man of Chris's size down for long, a fact that Piers was counting on for his plan to work.

-.-.-…..-.-.-

"Can't you just infect him now," a voice whined from somewhere to Chris's right. He tried to focus on the voices despite the relaxing haze he floated in.

"As I told you before, the plaga won't take an unconscious host. I can't begin the process until he comes back around." That voice sounded familiar and close to his left. That is Piers' voice his sleepy mind recognized happily. It took him a moment to remember that Piers was dead and with it came a wave of grief. That's right this doppelganger was working for Carla against everything they had stood for. His Piers was dead. The sound of something ticking beside his left ear irritated him with its steady beat. With each tap of its cadence, Chris could feel himself lifting out of the fog that was holding him. Piers whispered quietly into his ear bringing him fully back to reality. "Don't struggle. They will shoot you before I can stop them."

Chris opened his eyes and let the dim lighting filter through his lashes. Beside him, Piers was examining the packaging on the cooler he had brought in with him. There was something colder about him now, nearly robotic as he began unwrapping the sealing tape on the box. The sniper paused for a moment to glance at the time on his wrist watch before starting again on the packaging slightly slower than before. As inconspicuously as he could, Chris felt out the bonds on his wrist and noted that they were tied perfectly as expected. There would be no escape from whatever the man next to him decided to do.

"Did you love him," Piers asked quietly. The sniper balled the discarded tape and set it down neatly beside the cooler.

"What," Chris spat back in shock. His brows knit together in dismay, but the man kneeling beside him was not surprised. In fact the sniper simply checked his watch and removed the box lid with an air of calm.

"Did you love your lieutenant, soldier," Piers pressed. The ace cocked an eyebrow upward as if judging him when he stayed silent. Chris glared at him in response. Shaking his head as if disappointed with his lack of forthcoming, Piers checked his watch again before pulling the tendril swinging plaga out of the cooler. Chris leaned his head as far away from it as he could, but the tips of the energetic creature smacked his cheek in anticipation. "I'm about to infect you with the lowest kind of parasite there is. These could potentially be your last words. So let me ask you again, did you love him?"

Chris considered the plaga in Piers' hand and felt his hopes drop. The bonds were too tight for him to escape without significant struggle and a quick glance to his right showed the guards were all too ready to shoot him if he made one move against the man sitting beside him. Piers waited patiently despite the eager lurches the plaga made towards the BSAA captain. Chris let out a sigh as he considered what to say.

"I loved him," Chris admitted aloud. There was a thousand things more that Chris would have liked to have told Piers, the real Piers, not this lookalike that was about to infect him. His confession was the tip of the iceberg for all of the emotions and thoughts he had on Piers Nivans. As if understanding that which the captain could not say, Piers nodded his head.

"Then it's a shame that he died in that oil rig," Piers finished. Chris noted how he checked his watch yet again, the fourth time within only a few minutes. Looking up at him with a questioning expression, he was ignored by the distracted sniper who was staring at the plaga in his hand.

The shrill alarm that pierced the air startled Chris and the guards standing outside of the cell. Standing up quickly, Piers cursed and shouted orders at them.

"We're under attack! Go get the gear from my locker and pick up a set for him. I'll have him infected and under control by the time you get back."

"Yes sir," was the only answer he could hear from them as both guards ran out of the room. Piers watched them go and made eye contact with Chris as the hallway door slammed shut from their exit. A short hiss came from the plaga as it was crushed in Piers' tight grasp. A moment of silence passed between them as the alarm continued ringing and the guts of the plaga slopped out onto the floor. Chris could see Pier's thoughts racing as the repercussions of his actions hit him. Dropping the carcass to the floor, Piers mechanically wiped his hands clean on the towel inside of the cooler.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Chris's question was ignored as Piers began to work on releasing Chris's restraints. As soon as his hands were free, the sniper immediately backed away. Chris quickly freed his ankles and rubbed some life back into his wrists as he got to his feet. Piers quickly looked him over and seemingly satisfied by what he saw, started to walk away towards the door. "Hey! Wait up!"

Chris was on Piers' heels as the Ace's long legs began to eat up the hallway. He reached out a hand and grabbed the sniper by the arm to pull him to a stop.

"Not right now. They'll be back any second," Piers whispered as he jerked his arm free. As if on cue the door wrenched open and the two guards appeared with the gear on hand. Chris tried to appear docile behind Piers as the young man stepped forward to greet them. He motioned for them to get into the hallway and close the door behind them.

"Has the perimeter been breached?"

"Yes, last report had them at the docks," one of the guards replied as both hurried into the narrow passage.

"Good," Piers replied before he clocked the closest one in the face. Jumping into the fray, Chris tackled the other guard and took him out of commission. As quickly as it had started, the fight was over without challenge. Chris and Piers stood over the bodies of the incapacitated guards for a moment catching their breath. Chris caught the wistful smile that Piers shot him, but refrained from commenting. With a brutal efficiency Piers began stripping the guards of the weapons and gear that they carried, separating it out into two piles.

"Why are you doing this," Chris asked as Piers slung the anti-material rifle over his shoulder.

"It's the right thing to do." Piers reloaded an assault rifle and flipped it around in offering. Chris met his gaze straight on, showing his skepticism. Giving a small growl of annoyance at the delay, Piers continued. "Look I can't change the past. All I can do is work towards a better future."

Chris accepted the gun with a hesitant nod of understanding. A moment of silence passed as he stared at Piers' hunched back, wondering why the clone was going out of his way to help him now. As if feeling his stare, Piers wordlessly threw a small belt of grenades into the pile growing at Chris's feet. Taking the hint, Chris began gearing up for what was to come.

Piers cocked the shotgun in his hands and approached the door. Chris fell into line and was surprised when Piers paused after grabbing the door handle. He couldn't see the young man's face from his position behind him.

"Are you ready," Piers asked quietly. Chris froze at the sense of déjà vu that overwhelmed him in that moment. The sniper looked back at him in question and he managed a terse nod.

"Then let's do this."


	9. Chapter 9

**Please go back and reread chapter 8 before starting this chapter since I made some key changes.**

Happy New Years everyone! 2018 was a long year full of turmoil and challenge. While I've been MIA, a lot has changed. I moved halfway across the country, spent three months training extensively for a new job, and traveled quite a bit (mostly due to training). Now that things are finally settling down, I have time to explore my new home and write.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me through this writing process. Best Wishes for the New Year.

 **Chapter 9:**

Piers opened the doorway and peeked around the corner. The hallways they had passed through thus far had been empty, but Chris could hear people talking in the distance. They weren't far from trouble.

"Come on," Piers ordered and motioned for Chris to stay behind him. Moving quickly they made it to the entrance of the stairway before the voices turned into shouting. Piers cursed quietly and opened the stairwell door for Chris to go through. Footsteps echoed in the narrow space, growing louder as people stomped their way down from high above them.

Chris could see a window to the outside on the next landing up, but Piers started on the stairs down without hesitation. As if sensing his lack of movement, the sniper glanced back at him in question. Chris nodded his head towards the window. Piers shook his head no before starting to descend the steps again. Though the Alpha captain would have taken the risk of trying to escape out the window, the Piers lookalike had made his decision clear. He wasted no time in catching up. As they bypassed all of the surface levels, Chris began to wonder if he had made the right decision in following him into the depths of the unknown.

The hallways in the basement's basement were an intricate maze of narrow cement passages. Chris was confident that he would have been lost if Piers hadn't been leading the way. The sirens were muted down here, as if the thickness of the walls were stifling their furious cries. Turning the corner, they were faced with a pair of locked metal doors that read 'electrical room' in bright yellow letters. Piers grabbed the door handle and gave it a shove unsuccessfully.

"Together," Chris commanded as he took a stance. Nodding his head in agreement, Piers mirrored the stance beside him. On a brief quiet countdown, they kicked the doors open together. Chris scanned the stacks of electrical machinery to the left and trusted Piers to cover his back. Silently they entered the buzzing space and began through the aisles.

"There should be an access ladder to the tunnels just ahead. The BSAA team shouldn't be too far from it," Piers commented. Lowering his guard, Chris examined the electronics around them with interest.

"Do you mind if I destroy these? It might slow them down."

"No need. I already rigged the server room with explosives. We need to get into the tunnels before it blows." The towers of expensive technology came to a halt revealing a cheap fold up table and several knocked over chairs. A quick kick sent some of the mess aside and revealed a marked service hatch in the floor. Chris focused in on the structure as Piers knelt down to assess the exit closely. Grasping its handle and twisting, the lock mechanism creaked as if it hadn't been opened in ages. The rusty metal stopped with an audible click and Piers labored unsuccessfully over the unmoving piece. "Chris, can you help me? I think it's jammed."

Chris slung the gun strap over his shoulder and closed the distance between them. Just as he started to crouch down, Piers leapt to his feet. The look of panic and desperation in the sniper's eye was jarring. Everything felt in slow motion. Chris saw those pouty lips form the shape of his name, but the sound itself was lost as Piers snapped up his gun up and took a shot. The resulting bullet whistled by Chris's head by mere centimeters, finding its target behind him. Chris spun around in time to see the corpse of a j'avo hit the floor, its mask cracked in half from where the bullet had pierced.

"Thanks," Chris muttered as he turned his attention back to Piers. There was an empty look in Piers' eyes, his gaze solely locked onto the face of the man he had just killed. The body began to decompose into dust, a reminder that soon there would be no evidence of its existence. Chris could see the young man considering it as his brow scrunched in concentration. Blocking Piers' line of vision to the pile of dust, he placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Really, I mean it. Thank you for saving my life."

Piers slowly nodded his head as he lowered the gun to his side. Slapping his shoulder roughly, Chris stepped around him to grab hold of the handle and waited patiently for the ace to join him. Together the two of them forced the unforgiving metal to yield and yanked the hatch outward. A ladder led into pitch black nothing and Chris almost felt a lick of anxiety at the descent. Something about all of this wasn't sitting right with him. Before he could voice his concern, Piers was climbing down the ladder at a pace that brokered no discussion. Reminding himself that it was too late to turn back now, Chris stepped down onto the ladder and slammed the hatch back into place.

The overwhelming darkness of the tunnel seemed to swallow Chris whole as he stepped off of the ladder. He couldn't see the walls around him or the ground beneath his feet, but he could hear Piers' even breaths echoing in the space. Taking an uneasy step forward, Chris stumbled over something unseen on the ground.

"Come on. We have to keep moving," Piers muttered. The sniper's quiet footsteps didn't make it any easier to know where he was located or heading.

"Do you have a light or something? I can't see a damn thing," Chris retorted as he took a few hesitant steps in a direction he thought was forward.

"We don't have time for this. Don't panic. I'm going to touch you." A hand gently grabbed Chris's right arm and he had to fight down his natural instinct to throw it off. Anyone and anything could be an enemy in black this all-consuming. Ignoring the obvious anxious tension, Piers tidily folded Chris's forearm around his own upper arm and began to push for him to walk towards their left. Chris reluctantly held onto the appendage provided, and wearily tried to match the sniper's pace. They walked together in silence, making their way through the tunnels into the unknown.

"Can you really see in this," Chris asked, finally breaking the quiet peace that had come over them. It felt like enough time had passed that his eyes should have adjusted, but the level of darkness had yet to levy into outlines.

"Sort of." Chris felt what might have been interpreted as a shrug, but waited for him to continue. An awkward moment passed before Piers picked up the hint. "The virus improved one of my eyes so seeing in conditions like this is easy. The other eye however is as useless as yours. Can't afford to waste time hunting for the emergency power box though. If we are on the wrong side of the server room when it goes, then there's a good chance we will be crushed by the debris."

"We better get a move on then," Chris replied. Piers gave him an uncommitted grunt and picked up their pace a bit. The moment stretched on for what felt like eternity. Chris opened his mouth a few times to start a conversation, but wound up closing it quietly each time. There was something isolating about this environment that gave his mind privilege to wander. He tried to shake a reoccurring thought out of his mind, but it continued to plague him. The J'avo beside him was near identical to Piers Nivans of Alpha the more he compared them. His voice, his posture… even the way he spoke was reminiscent of the drowned man. Chris slowly spread out his fingers grasping Piers arm, assessing the muscle beneath. It was uncomfortably familiar, and Chris felt himself reminiscing for a moment before being jerked back to the reality of the situation. Of course a clone would have the same physical aspects! What was he trying to get at…what exactly was giving him the feeling that he was missing something right in front of him?

An explosion sounded above them and Chris felt the arm in his grasp twist. A quick shove sent him stumbling forward. Losing his balance, Chris smacked the floor in a graceless heap. The crash of the tunnel collapsing was nearly deafening. Abruptly the roar stopped and a bright light from the ceiling shined down upon him, instantly killing any chance of night vision. Chris picked himself off the ground, coughing as he tried to clear his lungs of the dust filling the air.

"Piers," Chris weakly shouted between hacks. Blinking the light away, he spotted the man in question sprawled out on the ground face down. He lay only inches away from the wall of rubble blocking the path they had come from. "Piers!"

Crossing the space as fast as his shaky legs could carry him, Chris gently grabbed hold of Piers' shoulders and rolled him over on to his back. Nervous fingers felt for a pulse in the young man's neck and were relieved to find a steady fluttering. Chris whispered his name once more and gave him a slight shake. Lethargically Piers' glazed eyes opened and stared upward unseeing.

Hazel orbs slowly shifted to focus on Chris and recognition settled over his previously blank features. Blinking rapidly, the glaze in his eyes cleared and Piers shoved away from him. His cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and he looked terribly uncomfortable. "Captain! Eh…I'm fine. Thanks."

The young man quickly got to his feet and paced for a few moments as the BSAA captain remained kneeling. Chris felt like he had been blindsided by a heavy punch, even though Piers had done nothing. Refusing to meeting Chris's analyzing eyes as they watched him, Piers turned his attention to the hole above them.

"Give me a leg up. I have to get something," Piers commanded as he stepped back a few steps. Chris slowly adjusted his position and put his hands together to form a foothold. The sensation that he was missing something important returned with a vengeance, making him scrunch his brows together in thought. There was no cue when Piers started running at him, but Chris went through the launch movement with ease. It was natural to him, as if they had practiced the maneuver together hundreds of times before. For his part Piers grabbed onto the ledge and pulled himself on top of it without delay. "Wait here."

Chris watched him disappear into the room beyond, swallowing his complaints. Listening carefully for any sign of trouble, he leaned on the wall in the shadow of the hole. The irritating siren was now gone, undoubtedly a victim of the server room demise, but the remaining building creaks and moans were uncomfortable with possibility.

Chris began to worry as time slipped away and there was no sign of the sniper. The tunnel not closed off by rubble was foreboding in its emptiness, a stark reminder that he would have to move forward blind if Piers did not return shortly. A quick search of the rubble made it apparent that there was nothing of use for him to salvage, unless he was searching for cement pebbles and rebar chunks. Just as he considered calling out to Piers, Chris heard something coming from the tunnel ahead. As he focused in on the inky space, he missed Piers' return above him.

"Chris!" He jumped a fraction from the loud whisper and looked up at Piers' position on the ledge. The sniper looked none the worse for wear and held up a USB drive triumphantly. His small smile turned downward as he noted Chris's tension. "Is everything alright?"

Chris looked at the dark nothing before him and listened carefully for any hint of danger. After a few pregnant pauses of silence he nodded his head yes and looked back up at Piers. The young man's pouty lips were pursed in a frown. Piers' hazel eyes lingered on the tunnel before returning to him.

"I got something you might need," Piers stated. With a small flick of his hand, the USB sailed down into Chris's grasp. He afforded it a curious glance before tucking it into his pocket. "That should have the unencrypted blueprints for the upcoming attack and the mechanism breakdown for the viral applicators. No guarantee that they'll go through with it all after today, but just in case I want you to have them."

"Thanks," Chris replied. As the sniper gracefully rose to his feet with a detached expression, Chris realized how much that sounded like good bye. The lookalike averted his eyes with a slight frown, further fueling the growing cloud of discomfort settling over them. "Piers."

"This is where we part, Captain Redfield. The BSAA will be here any minute and I can't afford to be here when they arrive." The curtly delivered statement was as unfeeling and sharp as a blade.

"Wait!" Chris's outburst made Piers' eyebrows lift in mocking question. The BSAA captain was swept with the sensation of panic he couldn't place. He didn't want him to leave. The gears in Chris's mind turned and seized as it tried to process why he felt like he was making a mistake letting the boy go. "Where are you going?"

"I have a few loose ends to tie up," Piers replied with a half-hearted shrug. The sniper seemed almost bored by the question, but the underlying tension in his body gave away more than his words.

"You're going after her, aren't you," he asked. The question came out more as a statement. Chris could see the flash in Piers' eyes before he turned away from him completely. It was all of the confirmation he needed. "You can't do it alone. That bitch is treacherous. Give me a hand up; we can take her on together."

Chris moved closer to the ledge that Piers was standing on, but the latter made no move to help him up. In fact, the boy simply shook his head no and ran a hand through his styled hair. "No you need wait here for your team. I promise you that I'll take care of her before I leave today. I just need to get some answers from her first."

"Piers, you can't trust anything she says. She's been lying to you from the start. Surely you know that? Her real name isn't even Maria, it's Carla! The same Carla Radames that destroyed Alpha team twice over!"

"I know she hasn't been completely honest with me," Piers admitted quietly. Chris didn't need him to turn around to know he was troubled. It was clear that he was carrying a weight on his shoulders far greater than the weapons strapped there. "But that's none of your concern now. Enjoy your freedom Chris."

"Wait, Piers!" His words appeared to fall on deaf ears. The sniper resolutely walked away without a second glance. Chris tried to jump and grab the ledge to hoist himself up, but it was well out of reach. The loud click of a door closing was final and was followed by the metallic slide of a lock moving into place.

_-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

"Hunnigan, now really isn't a great time."

"When is it ever a good time Leon?" The man in question rolled his eyes at the brunette's snark. Peeking around the corner, he shot at the guards he had engaged moments before. The loud clatter of boots running could only mean reinforcements were starting to arrive. He sighed in annoyance at the delay. Pulling the pin on a grenade, Leon threw it into the mess of j'avo around the corner and ducked. A loud boom shook the walls as the explosive detonated. The Raccoon City survivor barrel rolled across the entry way and charged to the emergency tunnel exit access door. "Have you secured Chris yet?"

"I'm almost to the coordinates. He shouldn't be far now." Leon grunted as he twisted the latch and yanked the heavy metal door open. He clicked on his flashlight, letting the beam of light sweep the space. The sound of dripping water and shifting rubble made him feel uneasy. Using grenades thus far had probably not helped the tunnel's stability.

"Pick up the pace. I have eyes on Gomez. If you hurry we might be able to catch her before she flees." Supporting his gun hand with the flashlight, Leon started up the hallway at a brisk pace. He didn't like this place or the lack of details that had sent him here in the first place. Information of this nature didn't just fall into their laps. Usually it was a trap or something far more sinister.

"I'm working on it, Hunnigan. Patience," Leon muttered. The quiet flutter of movement echoing in the tunnel brought his attention back to the darkness in front of him. Directing his light and gun towards the unknown, he flipped off the safety. As always, Leon Kennedy was ready for whatever might be coming. Their inside man had said that he would deliver Chris to the emergency exit tunnel by this time, but there was no guarantee that there wasn't an enemy lying in wait. Keeping his eyes forward and his gun at the ready, Leon wearily called out for the missing BSAA captain.

"Leon," a voice called out from above him. Leon jumped back in surprise, yanking his gun upward to point at the mass on the ceiling, but there was no need. The mountain of a man he was looking for crashed down to the ground in front of him in a crouch. He stood up with a smile and brushed the dirt off his pants. "So you do scare. I'll have to let Claire know that you aren't as big of a hotshot as she says you are."

"What the fuck, Chris? Why were you on the ceiling? Where have you been all this time?" Chris gave Leon a manly shoulder slap before walking back to the shaft of light coming from above. Glaring at him, Leon followed slowly.

"I've been hanging out in the Neo Umbrella dungeon for a while. Look it's a long story and there really isn't time-" Chris was cut off by the sound of a low rumble behind them.

"We have to get out of here," Leon supplied with a worried glance behind him. "The tunnel may collapse any minute."

"We need to get on that ledge over there. I was going to try and climb the pipes over to it, but with the two of us, this should be a piece of cake." Chris looked at him expectantly and Leon begrudgingly tucked his handgun into its case. He ran the few steps necessary to reach him and used the boost from Chris to climb onto the ledge. Hooking his feet around the exposed rebar behind him, Leon leaned back over the edge to help the BSAA captain up.

"Are you two done playing around over there? We got a problem," Hunnigan's voice echoed loudly in his ears. Handing a communication unit over to Chris, Leon started towards the door in what appeared to be the wreckage of a computer room of sorts. They were going to need to get out of here asap if the vibrations from below them were anything to go by.

"Redfield here. Go ahead," Chris told her as he followed closely behind him.

"Gomez has been spotted on the Western rooftop. She has a helicopter ready to take off, but appears to be waiting for something. Wait! Someone's climbing up to the roof."

"Piers," Chris muttered. Leon arched an eyebrow at the tone in his voice, but Chris didn't notice. His mind was clearly miles away, even as his eyes swept over the debris littering the desks. Fried computer monitors, scattered paper piles, and broken picture frames of someone's cherished memories hardly seemed worth the stare Chris was giving them. Wondering if his time in penitentiary had shaken loose a few bolts upstairs, Leon watched him carefully out of his peripherals as he worked on weakening the door hinges. Suddenly an idea seemed to strike Chris out of the blue and he hurriedly joined Leon at the door. "Hunnigan, I need you to look something up for me. It's important."

With one massive kick, Chris flattened out the weakened door with ease and stomped out into the hallway. Leon rolled his eyes at the nonchalant display of power, but kept pace with him. Hunnigan buzzed back into their ears. "Go ahead. I'm here."

"When Carla Radames was impersonating Ada Wong through the use of the C virus, was there any evidence that indicated she was given Ada's memories through the cloning process?"

"No," Leon replied. He was curious about Chris's train of thought, but was certain of his answer. "Simmons had to train Carla to become Ada."

"Leon's right. Though Ada destroyed the majority of the evidence associated with the cloning incident, there are no records to support that the cloning process would give the recipient the original's memories. Why?"

Chris cursed violently making Leon stop to stare at him. The BSAA captain was clearly fuming. The mental image of a raging bull came to mind, but Leon thought better than to comment. He held still though his instincts screamed at him to step back from the man rampaging in front of him.

"I swear I'm going to kill that woman," Chris growled out. Stomping forward, he brushed past Leon and started towards the doorway marked stairs. "I'm not going to make the same mistake twice."


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy New Year! We are finally closing in on the ending of this story, only two to three more chapters to go I expect. Sorry to leave you on the cliff hangar, but hopefully the next chapter won't be too far along behind it.**

 **Don't forget if it is italicized, it's a memory!**

 **Chapter 10:**

Piers couldn't believe how picturesque the sky was. The familiar light blue was painted with puffs of white and tinted with hints of the impending sunset. It was damn near worth a picture if he had any mind to stop…but there was no time to spare. He could hear the blades of the chopper starting to power up. Soon it would lift up into the air and the woman behind Neo Umbrella would be spirited away to yet another hideout. Above him the sky looked perfectly open with possibility, but somehow his world felt like it was crashing down.

"Piers!" His hazel eyes drifted to the woman standing on the helipad looking at him with a hopeful smile. It was easy to see that Maria had been anxiously waiting for him. Mechanically Piers' legs brought him towards her even as his mind ran a thousand miles a minute in every other direction. It was the thought of the end that helped him stay the course. He could finish this. Piers could destroy the organization that had saved him and given him hope for a brighter future. How could he be having doubts now? Hadn't he made his decision when he had called the BSAA tip line using Evan's blood splattered phone? Or when he deliberately released Chris Redfield and killed one of their own to protect him? Yet Maria's smile and confidence in him made the decision just the slightest bit harder.

Piers considered for a fraction of a moment tossing away this ludicrous plan and simply taking the easy route. He could give Maria the finished virus applicator prototype schematics and hop into that helicopter with her. With so many dead and their headquarters infiltrated, it would be easy to cover up his involvement and stay within Neo Umbrella. By now Chris would be united with his precious BSAA and on his way out of here with their backup computer drive in hand. It wasn't like he had anything left to hold him to his previous course. He could always change his mind. Yet the knowledge of what would come if he did nothing and the weight of her lies kept him firmly grounded. Piers had to do this, millions of lives counted on it.

"Did you manage to save anything from the lab," Maria asked as her eyes roved over his empty hands.

"The virus and vaccine samples are destroyed. Someone used the BSAA attack as a cover to infiltrate the lab," Piers lied. Looking back at his plan now, it was clearly a mistake to show up empty handed. He was supposed to have been working at the lab when the attack had hit.

"Was it a woman in red," Maria asked with a look of fear in her eyes. The instant tension in her shifting stance gave her position away. He nodded yes and she let off an exasperated sigh. "Ada Wong… I should have foreseen her interference into our plans."

"I managed to wound her before she got away. How does she play into all this?" Maria nearly growled at him as her frown turned into a sneer. Piers was surprised his lie had such an effect on her.

"Ada is the woman who corrupted my mentor. She's the reason I was infected. Don't worry about her for now. When we have our army, it'll be child's play to kill her and whatever remains of the Family."

"Was that the plan all along? To make an army and dispose of your enemies?" Her momentary silence gave the answer louder than any words. Piers noted the way her lips pursed into a straight line of irritation, but he still pushed on. "Tell me the truth, Maria. There was never going to be a request for equal rights for the infected, was there?"

"Equality is unnecessary when we are the superior lifeform. After we dispose of the organization behind the world's corruption and bio-weaponry, we will have the power to do whatever we want."

"Doesn't it bother you that you'll kill thousands of innocent people? Not to mention those who will be infected."

Maria let out an annoyed huff at the clear hypocrisy of his statement. After all, Piers had been working for Neo-Umbrella for months now. He had fought alongside her when they fled capture and conducted research that enabled their progress. Piers was just as culpable as Maria, even if she was the one giving orders. "Simmons, the Family, Ada… they are responsible for everything. Destroying them is worth any cost. Those killed are simply a means to an end."

Piers nodded his head in agreement as if the words she had spoken made complete sense. She smiled in relief at his deference and apparent acceptance. Forcing his lips to turn upward into a smile, Piers slid a hand into his pants pocket and grasped the metallic ball within.

"You're going to need this then," Piers remarked as he pulled out the virus applicator ball from his pocket. Tossing it playfully into the air with a proud smile, he pretended to marvel at his work. Maria's eyes sparked with excitement and she took an unconscious step towards him. "I was coming to show you the finished result when the alarm sounded."

"Marvelous. At least we got something out of all this mess." She eagerly extended out her hand, her eyes never leaving the device. Behind her the chopper pilot poked his head out and shouted over the noise of the blades that it was time to go. As the ball landed in his hand, Piers gave it a slight squeeze before launching it purposefully in an arc toward Maria.

He watched the smile drop from her face as the coverings of the applicator dropped. It seemed almost fitting that the vaccine for the C-virus would be part of her demise. The antibodies in the vaccine were aggressive enough to cause a blood incompatibility reaction if the recipient was infected prior to vaccination. It was a problem that he and Maria had started to work on before she prioritized the joint attacks with Tricell over their research.

Piers felt a sliver of regret as he watched Maria frantically yanking needles out. Her panicked screaming fell on his deaf ears, and the roar of helicopter blades covered it up better than he had anticipated. Not that he expected anyone to come to her rescue. The "executive" escape plan had only ever included the three of them- Piers, the pilot and Maria.

Every needle point of contact was already smoking little white tendrils up into the air. It was with a clinical detachment that he remembered the nightmare from the other night (memory he questioned?) and felt a curious bit of relief. With the vaccine in her, Maria's time on this Earth was limited unless she had something different about her genome than their previous test subjects.

Swinging his anti-material rifle around into position, Piers shot at the latches holding the helicopter's armor in place. It took a few bullets to pierce one of the metal links holding it up, but with a crack it finally dropped free. He laid down to brace himself and with a final glance at Maria, took a shot at the exposed gas tank behind her. Like a well-positioned oil barrel, the helicopter gas tank ignited generating a large explosion of fiery debris.

Fire crackled and roared from the scattered remains of the helicopter. Piers peeled himself off the ground and shielded his eyes from the worst of the closest flames. Picking his way through the minefield, he sought out the telltale pile of ashes that would assure his success. Piers felt his heart drop as he reached the spot where Maria had been standing prior to the explosion. It was empty, with not even a charred outline of a body to give him a glimmer of hope.

A hacking coughing fit sounded from behind him. Piers swung his gun around and tried to look through the crackling heat for the survivor. Through the yellow and orange licks, Piers spotted a blackened form staggering toward him. He found himself frozen staring at what remained of Maria in horror. Her skin had melted off in the heat of the blast and a grey red liquid dripped from her limbs. Even as the fire licked at her wounds, the C-virus was hard at work repairing its host. Her twisted broken back loudly cracked back into alignment, snapping her head upward from its partially detached slump. The once pale flesh of her face was smeared grey and seemingly amorphous in its features. With every step closer, the disfigured zombie began to resemble the woman he knew.

"You seem surprised. Did you really think you could kill me? I have defied death time and time again," Maria laughed with a victorious sneer. Her raspy voice snapped him out of whatever shock that possessed him. "I am a goddess!"

"I had hoped you'd go quickly," Piers replied with a hint of regret. Fitting his anti-material rifle back to his shoulder, he shot a full clip. The bullets sailed through Maria's chest without resistance. She gave him a hysterical giggle as the wounds filled in with a grey gel. Adjusting his scope to take a closer look, he noted the way her skin was bubbling beneath its surface. Her flesh was rippling like the water of a pond after a stone had been thrown into it. Was that the C-virus regenerating or a result of the vaccine fighting within her body?

Piers began to reload his anti-material rifle, but was interrupted by return fire. Darting and rolling out of the way, he ducked behind the remains of a roof air conditioner. When had she gotten a gun? Piers belly crawled to a large piece of helicopter debris as gunfire echoed overhead.

"Why? Why would you do this, Piers?! I would have laid the world down at your feet!" Piers mentally swore as he tried to see through the thick smoke filling the air. He couldn't visually pinpoint her location, but he could lay a trap. Taking one of the grenades from his belt, he set it down at his feet.

"I can't let you destroy the world over some vendetta," Piers shouted back. Rolling away from the grenade, he hid behind what had once been a helicopter door and looked back.

"You always try to cling to human morals, don't you? We aren't human Piers, stop thinking like one!" Like a tiger on the prowl, Maria appeared in the smoke and cautiously approached his previous location with gun in hand. Piers watched through the gun scope with bated breath. She stopped a few feet away from the debris with a suspicious expression. Realizing this was going to be the best chance he was going to get, Piers shot at the grenade. The explosion went off, throwing Maria from her feet.

Piers darted out from behind the door to get a better shot on her fallen form. A moment too late, he spotted a knife flying towards him. Piers tried to twist out of the way, but the sharp blade cut into his flesh like butter, lodging firmly in his belly. Gasping at the pain, Piers dropped the anti-material rifle in his hand. His fingers wet with blood as he grasped for the knife handle. A pained gasp fell from his lips as he ripped it out. Piers' shaking fingers dropped the blade and he pressed a hand to the bleeding wound. The sniper grit his teeth with a pained grimace and found himself reaching for the handgun on his belt when Maria sat up like a deranged marionette.

"You may be a traitor, but it takes a degree of stubbornness to survive the viral transformation. Even now the virus continues to find you worthy of survival." Her broken legs barely held together as she pitched upward into a standing position. The way she kept getting back up while physically maimed brought a measure of fear to him. Piers emptied the clip, aiming directly for her head, but she simply laughed as grey liquid splattered across the pavement from the impacts. As if with a mind of its own, the liquid began moving together into new forms. "And you wondered why I always say we are superior to humans. Look at the way the C-virus knits together your flesh so quickly. It is the future of a better human race."

Piers chanced a glance down and was met with silent horror. While the pain was still dully present, the skin where the blade had skewered him was fully healed. The blood stain and hole in his clothing were the only evidence that he had been wounded.

"If we are the future, then the world will drown in an ocean of blood and violence. We are a mistake. We have always been a mistake," Piers replied. His sense of horror grew as the gel blobs behind her shaped into a humanoid forms and began showing features resembling the Maria he knew. But her appearance had always been a lie, hadn't it? "You never should have created the C-virus, Carla."

-.-.-.-.

Leon let the empty clip drop from his gun to the floor before slowly sliding in a fresh one. A ragged sea of corpses lay scattered in the narrow walkway in testament to the battle just won. They had crossed over from the collapsing structure in time to avoid getting taken down with it, but found quite the welcoming committee on the other side. The infected hardly had a chance against the legendary Chris Redfield in the rage he was in. He had ran ahead into the swarm with a battle cry, leaving Leon to fate. The BSAA captain hadn't bother with more than a single bullet a piece, but all of his shots were clean kills. However no matter how fast they killed them, it felt as if the infected kept coming. The hoard surged forward like a tsunami, almost as if running from whatever was behind them. In the wake of the battle, carnage was absolute.

"Don't leave me behind like that," Leon growled as he made his way over the bodies to the larger man. Chris reloaded his gun and dropped those that were out of ammunition. There was no point in carrying the extra weight when ammo was scarce. "I understand you're in a hurry, but you'll get both of us killed if you continue to pull shit like that."

"There's no time. Keep up," Redfield replied as he started forward. He was jarred to a halt when the building suddenly shook. A loud muted boom told of a nearby explosion. Cursing loudly, Chris peered out the nearby window and saw smoke coming from the other end of the roof.

"The helicopter… it's gone!" Leon saw the look of panic on Chris's face as he started running down the hallway towards the stairs.

"Hunnigan, what's going on up there," Leon asked as he tried to keep up. If they survived this, he was seriously going to kick Redfield's ass for being so reckless. "Was that an air strike?"

"It wasn't us. Our drones are still fifteen minutes out." Hunnigan's voice came through clearly over the ear pieces despite the distance. The sound of concern in her tone was evident. "I lost visual on the suspects."

Chris grunted as he slammed open the door to the top floor. Together Leon and Chris cleared each of the rooms searching for one with a fire escape or roof access. They had to have gotten up there somehow. As they approached the side of the building under the helipad, the sound of voices and fighting could be heard through the ceiling.

"Carla Radames is dead. I let her die the day I ascended from the mistakes of my humanity," Maria seethed in a garbled voice. Leon could almost imagine the sneer that would have accompanied it.

"And yet here you are planning to take revenge for your previous self? Sounds like a grudge if I ever heard one," Piers chuckled darkly as he tsked, "Simmons is dead. You are killing out of pettiness at this point."

"Do you really think you are blameless in all this? How many people have you killed, Piers Nivans? How many of those were the same men that you once fought alongside? You betrayed them. You turned your back on everyone you once fought for." Maria's shrill words were scathing, and had an echo to them as if multiple people were saying the same message. Leon felt a shudder go down his back as he considered the possibility that perhaps Chris was right about the man above them, or worse yet that he was a corrupted clone as Carla herself had become.

"That bitch," Chris jeered angrily and for once, Leon was in complete agreement.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Each of your plans has led to more death and carnage than the one before it. I shouldn't have blindly followed you. Things would have turned out differently if I had remembered my past," Piers retorted bitterly. The tone of his voice was laden heavily with emotion despite his efforts to remain neutral.

"The virus doesn't get rid of memories. You chose to forget." Piers shook his head and shot at what he believed to be her true melting form. Somehow he had lost the real Maria in the mix of five bleeding out clones. Even as the bullet pierced the head of the closest clone, gel quickly filled the hole. The second Maria closest to him lobbed a hunk of gray goo in his direction. Piers rolled out of the way. Something about the consistency of it reminded him of superglue. "Do you even remember how you became infected? You stole the remaining enhanced C-virus syringe out of my briefcase and injected yourself. You wanted the power that the virus would give you. Any price to pay to save your precious Captain."

Piers grit his teeth and kept moving. One of the many Maria clones was the correct one, but each one he shot simply filled in. He was going to be overwhelmed and flanked by numbers if he wasn't careful. Branches of the gray gel spread out like a web. Punching one of the clones that had moved in too close, he heard her laughter echoing in the air.

"You are a monster, a B.O.W of your own volition. No matter how hard you try to play human. The BSAA will never take you back." Her words hit the sore spot in his heart, but they were undoubtedly true. He didn't bother denying her.

Yanking the pins out of all his remaining grenades, Piers launched them in a desperate attempt to finish it. The blast threw him back, but when he looked back Maria was standing in a single body crouched over. The ground was smeared with grey and bubbling gently as the remains started to consider rebuilding their form. He struggled to his feet and with a shake of his head to clear the ringing, he stalked towards her.

"You should have left me for dead in that oil rig," Piers growled as he whipped the last pistol out from his belt holster. Before he could shoot, Maria knocked his arm aside and landed a swift uppercut to his jaw. Piers staggered back as his vision threatened black and ears rang. It was sheer muscle memory that had him bring his right arm up in time to block the punch that followed. Swinging a hook in return, Piers was surprised when it met air. Instead a sharp kick knocked the air out of him and he found himself meeting the asphalt behind him.

"And miss out on all the fun? Did you see the look on Redfield's face when he saw you?" Maria laughed maniacally as she yanked a virus applicator gun out of the remains of its hip holster. "No, my mistake was not giving you more C-virus. I could have made you my next Ustanak… ensured you were malleable enough to follow orders without question. No matter. We can fix that."

"Piers!" The familiar shout of his name from across the battlefield had him snapping his head away from Maria to steal a glance at its source. Hope and disappointment curled in his gut as he recognized Chris as one of the two men running towards him. Jerking back to focus on Maria, he saw her eyes narrow in displeasure as she hissed at the new arrivals. Taking advantage of her distraction, Piers slid the remaining knife out of his belt and sliced it towards the wrist holding the gun. Her scream of anger rang out as she dropped the gun to clutch her partially detached wrist. With a swift kick, Piers sent it a few feet away and took her legs out from underneath her.

He didn't stop to think as he launched his body on top of hers. They grabbled for a few seconds as Piers tried to stab her. Even without one of her hands in play, the stub was rapidly reforming its proper missing shape and she fought as if it were still there. Right as he got her pinned, a sharp kick sent him rolling away from her. Three of the Maria clones glared down at him, anger in their eyes. He was lucky they lacked the intelligence of the original and hadn't simply killed him while he was distracted. Getting to his feet, he noticed Chris and Leon shooting at the other clones descending upon them. Somehow they were now up to eight if he included the original. If things didn't change soon, they would soon be out of ammo and out-manned.

With a war cry from the depths of his soul, Piers launched at the clones with his knife. Why waste bullets if he could decapitate them with the sharp blade? Three against one was never fair, but he managed to even the odds with a few lucky kills. As he snapped the neck of the third Maria in half, Piers looked around for the original he had left on the ground. His blood ran to ice as he spotted her a few steps away with the virus applicator gun in hand. She pointed it in the direction of Chris and Leon who were still busy fighting the clones running amok.

As Maria fired the gun, Piers threw his body in front of the shots. It was a moment of success despite his right shoulder ramming painfully into the ground. Piers ripped the needles out of his chest with his left hand, but it was too late. The pounding in his head and in his arm made it clear that he had taken on a significant dose of C-virus. Contractions from his arm alone were making it difficult to straighten from the semi-curled ball he had landed in.

"How pathetic! Even with your life at stake you still try to be something you're not," Maria seethed, "You are not a hero."

She closed the distance between them confidently and slammed a heeled boot down on Piers' right shoulder as he tried to twist out of its reach. A distinct click of metal breaking and the relief of pressure in his arm sent a jolt of fear through him. The latch that kept his arm from mutating to its other form had broken from its impact with Maria's shoe. Adrenaline and viral overload made the shift of tissue impossible to stop. Piers curled into a ball from the force of the electrical contractions trying to find enough strength to stop the transformation before it consumed him completely. "When will you throw away your humanity and accept what you've become?!"

Unable to move from the pain wracking his body, Piers knew his death was imminent. In the distance, he could hear Leon and Chris shouting over the ringing in his ears. Glaring his defiance at her mattered little. The punch she landed next snapped his head forcefully back into the pavement. Piers welcomed the wave of unconsciousness that swept him away.

-.-.-.-

 _"Thank you all for coming out this evening. Let's hear another round for the BSAA's newest recruits." A beautiful blond woman stood behind the podium in front of him with confidence. Several bright lights made the stage they were on all the more pronounced from the darkened room beyond its narrow platform. It was the stare of the crowd that made him stand a little straighter, not the rough brush of his starched stiff dress uniform upon his figure. She turned to look over at him and the five other men standing at attention behind her. The applause that had followed her statement started to die down. "At this point I would usually tell you all to fuck off and get to work."_

 _A chortle of giggles swept through the crowd and Piers' smirk grew a little larger. His eyes went out over the group, sifting through their shadowed faces without interest. It was the BSAA captain sitting in the front row with anyone else of significant rank that caught his attention. Chris's dress uniform was laden with medals and insignias, but his shoes clearly showed that he had been up to no good recently. Piers couldn't stop himself from smirking at his new captain before turning his attention back to Director Valentine._

 _"But it seems that management is getting weak and has donated a cake in your honor. So let's get this over with and get to the sweets. Attention!" The crowd rose to their feet and crispy saluted back as they shouted back the BSAA motto. With a nod of her head, Jill Valentine called out the word everyone had been waiting for from the start. "Dismissed!"_

 _Piers followed the others off the stage and tried to swallow down the egg of pride in his throat. The crowd around him was murmuring in boisterous conversation as people congratulated their newly minted soldiers. All of it faded to a dull roar as Piers weaved through the crowd. As of tonight he was officially a member of the BSAA and the second in command of the legendary Alpha team. Ignoring the draw of sheet cake and punch, Piers wandered towards the exit wondering if a quick escape would be noticed._

 _"Going somewhere, Nivans?" Piers turned towards the female voice and stiffened slightly in embarrassment. Jill Valentine raised her eyebrows in silent rebuke._

 _"No ma'am, just giving myself a better view of the party." He gave her his signature smile, but she didn't seem impressed. In fact Jill simply rolled her eyes as if she had seen it a thousand times before._

 _"You're just as predictable as Chris," she remarked as she turned to look out over the people before them. Piers spotted the man in question talking to several other men that were nearly as decorated as him. It was clear to Piers that he was trying to get himself out of the situation as politely as he could. As if feeling his stare, Captain Redfield glanced over at them and shot a wink. Piers felt more than heard Jill's sigh. "Though I'll have to admit that I was surprised to see him here tonight. He hasn't gone to one of these things since we formed the BSAA."_

 _"Really?" Piers' voice gave away his surprise. The knowledge warmed him even as he tried to play it off. Clearing his throat, Piers folded his hands behind his back and leaned against the wall beside the door. "Who is he talking to?"_

 _"That would be the administrative committee. They've been trying to corner him for months. Frankly I was surprised they didn't jump him the moment he walked in the door."_

 _Before Piers could ask if they should go rescue him, Chris broke away and started towards them. He reminded Piers of a jungle cat on the prowl the way he gracefully parted the crowd. Hazel eyes watched his approach with eagerness and excitement. When he was finally within arm's reach, Chris stopped in front of them with a winsome smile._

 _"Sorry to keep you waiting Piers. I presume you're ready to go?" Piers quirked an eyebrow at his captain's question, but schooled his expression back to mild interest. He hadn't the slightest idea what Captain Redfield meant, but he would play along with whatever Chris had in mind. It was lucky for him that Director Valentine wasn't paying attention and hadn't seen his reaction. She crossed her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at Chris with a frown._

 _"Always Captain," Piers obediently replied._

 _"Are you seriously leaving already," Jill asked. The disappointment in her voice was laid on thick and she was clearly unhappy. "I can think of at least a dozen officials present that would kill to have a word with you right now. You can't simply disappear whenever the bureaucracy comes to call Chris."_

 _With a brief nod to Piers to come along, Chris Redfield opened the door and weaseled half of his large frame out of it. He offered a regretful smirk to Jill as if it might placate her, but the sarcasm was evident in his reply._

 _"Can't help it Jill. We got a mission brief to go over. You of all people should know that Alpha never sleeps."_

 _"Sorry ma'am, Alpha calls," Piers added in as he gave her a brief salute on his way out the door._

 _"You owe me Redfield," Jill exclaimed as the door shut behind them. Matching Chris's pace as he set off down the hallway, Piers wondered what the plan was. They were clearly fleeing the conference room where the graduation ceremony was held and heading deeper into the complex. It was also apparent that Chris was having them avoid all of the most frequented hallways._

 _"What's our mission, sir?" Chris chuckled at Pier's serious tone and played along with a wolf-like grin._

 _"Our objective is to reach the office checkpoint without alerting the enemy of our location. It should provide us cover until they leave the area."_

 _"Roger that." Together they entered an emergency stairwell and climbed the levels. The floor that held offices was deadly silent as they made their way towards the imposing door at the end of the hall. Piers could hardly read the gold door plaque in this lighting, but he knew instinctively what it stated proudly in fancy block letters._

 _Chris hesitated with his hand wrapped around the door handle. Piers could see the way his brow squeezed together as he pushed away whatever thought had frozen him. With a slight flourish, Chris opened the office door that bore his name and motioned Piers inside. It was a much larger space than the standard BSAA office, but that was to be expected given his rank and what he meant to the organization. Chris's desk resembled a small mountain given its size and the plethora of messy paper stacks perched atop of it like towering peaks. Even the file cabinets boasted several open overflowing drawers. They looked to Piers like an unfinished thought, as if Chris had forgotten to return them all to order after a frantic search for something amongst them. The only thing without paper on it was the worn down sofa that had a neatly folded blanket on its center cushion. No doubt the Alpha team captain had spent many a night there, too tired to drag himself back to his actual home._

 _"I'm sorry about the mess. I wasn't originally planning on bringing you up here. I was just going to stop by to congratulate you then leave," Chris babbled as he followed Piers into the office and shut the door. Chris's long legs ate up the ground as he hurried to the desk and straightened some of the stacks. He reminded Piers of a teenager bringing his girlfriend back to his bedroom for the first time. His nervousness and discomfort brought an easy smile to Piers' lips as he tuned out whatever excuse Chris was giving him. Giving the space a considerate eye, he turned his attention back to his captain. Piers had to admit that Chris looked breathtaking in dress uniform, even as the man yanked his top few buttons open and clumsily tried to make an order out of the mess surrounding them._

 _"Don't worry about it. We'll be going through all this in the morning anyways right? It can rest in peace a little longer." Pulling out a chair from the clutter, Piers sat down and watched Chris rummage around his desk drawers. It wasn't that his actions were particularly noteworthy or eye-catching, but rather the sheer magnetism of him that kept Piers captivated. The clink of two glasses being placed down on the desk was followed by the solid thump of a whiskey bottle joining them. Piers kept his eyes on Chris as the older man finally relaxed back into his desk chair and opened the bottle to pour them both drinks. Slowly Chris's eyes rose to meet his as he deliberately placed one of the filled glasses down on the desk space in front of him. The offer was clear._

 _"Piers Nivans," Chris stated as he held his own glass aloft. Carefully grasping the whiskey placed before him, Piers smiled at his new captain and raised his cup in acknowledgement. "Top of your training class, elite marksman, and newest member to Alpha team."_

 _Piers tried to ignore the excited pull in his gut and the heat rushing to his cheeks. Funny how such a small thing like recognition from the man in front of him could impact him so much. Gathering himself together, he tilted his head coyly and replied._

 _"To Alpha and our future successes." They clinked their glasses together amicably and put the shot back. Instantly Piers began coughing as his throat burned painfully. "Damn that's strong!"  
"It's got to be to keep the ghosts away," Chris humored darkly. Before Piers could refuse, Chris had poured them each another shot. There was a flash of something in his eyes that brought Piers concern, but it was gone as the older man put the next shot of whiskey back. Brushing off his worry, Piers sipped the second shot. Chris watched him carefully and with a sigh, smiled at him. _

_"I told Jill they should just put your desk in here with mine since we'll practically be living here together." Piers carefully swallowed the whiskey in his mouth before he choked on it. The idea of sharing an office with his captain was not too shocking, but it definitely implied that they would be spending a lot of long hours together. He could feel his heart pounding in excitement. Or was that simply the alcohol racing through him already? Trying to play it cool, Piers gave a casual shrug as he put his empty glass back down on the desk. "We had an avid discussion on the matter several times actually. Long story short, Jill won. Your office will be down the hall."_

 _"It'll be good exercise going back and forth," Piers joked. Chris refilled their glasses and Piers had the slinking suspicion that Chris would drink him under the table if he wasn't careful._

 _"You'll get plenty of that out in the field with me." Nursing their drinks more slowly, they fell into a comfortable silence. Piers admired the view from the window beside Chris's desk. The full moon lit up the training grounds below invitingly. He had spent months sweating and bleeding into that ground, looking up at this very window wishing to see its usually hidden occupant. Now he was on the other side of the glass, happy to have accomplished the very thing he had set out to do since he learned of the BSAA: join Alpha team and work under the famous Chris Redfield. Piers was proud of himself for making it this far and proud of the meaningful work they were going to accomplish._

 _"We are going to change the world, aren't we?" Piers dragged his eyes from the training grounds back to Chris. His words had come out more as a statement than a question, but its meaning was understood._

 _"We will…together," Chris quietly replied. The certainty in his voice stroked the bubble of pride and excitement sitting in Piers' chest. It grew in size and weight, filling him to the seams. A deep sense of purpose rested in its wake, grounding him to this moment of understanding. Piers found himself speechless to reply. Holding up what little remained in his glass, he honored it with a nod towards the man before him. Flicking the whiskey back, Piers felt the alcohol burn down his throat as the world around him spun into black._

Piers was surrounded by the dark unknown, a space in which time felt infinite and sound was nonexistent. Yet with each passing moment he swore he could feel every heartbeat bringing him closer to something just out of reach. Feeling was creeping back to his body and with it, pain in throbbing waves. Piers wondered if he could tear apart from the force of it. Trying to breathe through his suffering, he focused on the memory still warming his heart. The sense of dedication and purpose that cut him raw was rivaled only by the deep respect and admiration he had for the man he had once served under. A small dot of light flickered into existence and began to grow with each pulse until its bright white shape consumed his vision.

Forcing his eyelids open completely, Piers took in the streaks of orange bleeding across the sky. He blinked his eyes owlishly as they tried to adjust to the brightness. The ground beneath him vibrated occasionally as if it were taking impacts of significant force, but everything remained silent. Piers' throat burned as if he had truly been taking shots of whiskey only moments before. As he tried to push through the sluggish fog in his mind, he managed to drag a hand to his throat. Twisted tendrils throbbed against his touch and the gelatinous feeling left him uncomfortably dropping his hand back down. The virus was clearly spreading further than ever before. An empty despair fought to overtake him as he struggled to accept what it meant.

"Chris!"

Leon's shout punctured the silence surrounding him. Piers managed to turn his head towards the sound and saw that one of the Maria liquid clones was grappling with Chris as Leon emptied his clip into it. That was unacceptable. Chris had to live, Maria had to die and the balance for this mess had to be paid. Gingerly rolling to his side, Piers took in the mutation across his chest and down the side of his abdomen. His claw was flushed purple and was sparking with power, despite the weakness he felt. Piers heard Leon grunt and shout for Chris again. Clinging to his stubbornness, he achingly pushed to sit up and then stand.

Limping was never a fast movement, but it was still progress forward. It gave him a moment to see that all of the Marias and the web of grey strands were connected. Even though his mind was fuzzy the plan of attack was startlingly clear. As he approached a large tendril of gel on the ground, Piers looked up at the fight in progress waiting for a moment when Chris and Leon weren't touching the network. Leon kicked the Maria clone off of Chris. Before she could launch herself back at him, Piers jabbed his claw into the gel and hit it with all of the electricity he could.

A distorted scream tore through the air and the gel dissolved to a brownish black residue leaving one Maria. She flipped her hair back over her shoulder from where she was kneeling and glared daggers at him. Screaming his name, Maria ran towards him as Leon and Chris peppered her with bullets. She wasn't even halfway to him when she collapsed onto the ground, bleeding out grey gel around her. Limping over, Piers motioned for the others to stay back.

He wasn't going to take any chances that she had anything further up her sleeve. As he approached her side, Piers charged his arm with whatever he had left. He had to finish this. Kicking her limp body over, he held his breath in waiting. Almost as if on cue Maria's eyes jumped open and she lurched towards him with a growl. Stabbing his claw through her bullet ridden chest, Piers put every last inch of power he could manage into her.

Maria's charred body shook a final time before sliding resolutely off his claw into a pile on the ground. Her head twisted into an upward angle from the impact, leaving her eyes openly staring at him in judgement. Piers watched for any sign that the virus might revive her, but knew when her body began to concede to ashes that she was finally finished. Watching her pale flesh crisp to black and float away on the breeze, he felt a measure of relief. If nothing else, at least he had killed the woman responsible for all of this mess. Piers' guilt at his actions the past few months reasserted itself and he found himself laughing at the remains in front of him. She had been right all along. He was a creature of his own creation struggling to hold on to the tattered remains of his humanity. The great Piers Nivans had betrayed the very cause he had initially given up his life to protect. Now what did he stand for?

His laughter was cut off by an electrical spasm jerking his mutated arm violently. The virus pounding through him reasserted its will for him to give in. It became harder for him to focus through the cloud of disorientation threatening to lull him into compliance with its demands. Why did he fight now? Maria was dead and he had served his purpose. Piers had become the infected criminal he had fought so hard against and now as his body shuddered under the weight of the viral load given to it, he struggled to hold onto what remained of who he once was.

Dragging his eyes upward from the ashes before him, Piers sought out the gaze of his former captain. Chris had been his anchor for so long, even when Piers couldn't remember him. Just seeing him standing tall now that the battle was over gave him a sense of finality. It was time to pay the price for the sins he had committed and go in peace. Chris saw the expression on Piers' face and took a concerned step towards him as if to close the distance that lay between them.

"Piers?" The gentle sound of his name coming from Chris's lips was almost rapture. It was just its worried tone that niggled him. His captain must have recognized the haunted look in his eye, the desperation building in them as the virus tore into what was left of him. After all, Chris Redfield had more skeletons in his circle of friends than people alive. If anyone would recognize what he was planning to do, it was him. Averting his gaze, Piers turned his back on Chris and forced his feet slowly forward. "Don't walk away from me."

"Chris," Leon warned as Piers stopped shuffling towards his objective and knelt down to grasp it. Part of him wanted to turn around to see what the BSAA captain had done to earn that tone of voice, but the urgency to get it over with before anyone could intervene kept him focused. The magnum revolver was cold from its time on the pavement, but a quick flick to check its clip revealed it had all he needed. He snapped it shut and silently took the safety off. With his mind made up, Piers gingerly rose to his feet.

"I have to go now. There isn't much time," he warbled out. His jaw felt unhinged by whatever the virus had done to the right side of his face, but there wasn't much he could do about it at the moment.

"Piers, the chopper is almost here. We'll get you help. They can treat-"

"I'm sorry Captain," Piers interrupted. He took a deep breath trying to keep the gun tight in his grip despite the sudden shakiness of his hand. Piers took one last look at the beautiful sunset above before he closed his eyes and raised the magnum to his temple in a fluid motion. "I can't live with what I've done."

A gunshot screamed out breaching the stillness of the night.


End file.
